Writing on the Wall
by Shinda Shikai
Summary: The Shinigami died of laughter, the toads cried salty tears and the girl… well, she tried. "It's not my fault," she told herself. It is something of an art to make a village of murder and backstabbing worse than it already is. "I just didn't realise how talented I am." A world full of irony.
1. PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

 _Cats, Creatures and Creation_

\~*~/

~Something You Should Know~

 **You are dying.**

I should know. I am still waiting for you, after all. But that's neither here nor there. For now, I am here for the sole purpose of keeping track of my latest gamble…

 _(The toads think they have it all worked out. We shall see.)_

If it works out _my_ way, I'll have a lot of work off my shoulders… Generating and harvesting souls is such a burden. The fewer there are, the better. And I have always had something of a soft spot for my souls born into the lives of ninja…

I can grant them the peace they crave.

{***}

~A Small Misunderstanding~

 **My whispered words turned into a name.**

There is a certain satisfaction in being the one that indirectly named an infant soul; I hadn't experienced it before and it wasn't my intention, but I know now. It makes it all the more fitting that the human who named the child was quite intimate with me; whether it knew or not.

The humans would call it unlucky.

And luck, in my experience, is quite often passed on.

I can sense your curiosity. I won't answer all your questions, but something I will:

I'm sure your dying to hear the progress of my gamble.

{***}

What has Changed thus Far

rabbit was fed the carrot – fox grinned - the roots grew longer – duck grew wings – snake slyly accepted – wood was axed

{***}

What is this? You want to know _more?_

I suppose I can fill you in on the details while the next part of the rabbit's life continues. It might take quite a while, after all I could show you _everything_.

But I shan't of course. Though I will show you everything the rabbit has encountered, maybe even some of the things it _hasn't_ seen.

Until then.


	2. Perfectly Planned

**Welcome to my fic! I hope you enjoy~**

If you are interested in the layout of this story, please read, otherwise skip to the next line break

This fic will be separated into 5 sections, each having a certain amount of chapters. I also plan to create another fic around when Part 2 starts, which will follow our cute protagonist Sasayaki while this fic will follow Naruto and Sasuke for a bit. So it will look something like this:

 **Prologue (Cats, Creatures and Creation)**

 **Part I (Sweet Lies)**

 **Part II (Sour Ties)**

Part 2.5 (Yellow Eyes) - separate fic

 **Part III (Red Skies)**

 **Epilogue (Demons, Devils and Death)**

At this point I'm just guessing, but from my old version that I deleted from this site I got up to part 3 (excluding part 2.5) and it took 37 chapters, so overall I think this fic will be at least 50 chapters long depending on how I go.

I will include recap chapters to help remember everything that has happened XD

* * *

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except my OCs.

 **Warning:** There will be character death, gore, angst, basically all the stuff you find in the Naruto series. Possible trigger warnings for future chapters, read at your own risk.

 **Check out my WoW: Plus fic which involves side stories to this fic X'D**

 **Also; yes, there will be a lot of unanswered questions and WTF moments but they will all be answered in the end. Feel free to review your theories, I would love to hear them.**

 **I have a DeviantArt account so check out my profile for the details, I have some Writing on the Wall (WoW) art up.**

 **I love my villains, thus Orochimaru will become a big part of this fic, and Danzo will be there in the shadows... scheming...**

Anyway, enough of that! Onwards to the story!

* * *

 _Song:_ Impossible

 _By:_ Lacey Sturm

* * *

"The Shinigami is speaking. It says she is the child of prophecy! It says she paves the future-" the woman's voice was cut off as she was wracked with a coughing fit.

"Shh, Minori, speak no more." A wizened lady knelt above the panting woman as she lay in her blood-stained bed.

Several figures surrounded the two, whispering quietly amongst themselves or occupying themselves with cleaning the newborn child.

"It's too late. The Shinigami is here… please… show me my baby," the one named Minori rasped.

The newborn baby was placed tenderly in her arms, clean and wrapped in a white towel. A tiny baby, with soft white hair and tanned skin. Her eyes were closed in a seemingly peaceful slumber. Minori held her close, cradling her.

"I will take care of her, she will become one of us," the wizened lady whispered.

"You don't… understand… the Shinigami whispers that she... she is… seer and... whispers..."

Minori's head slowly drooped backwards, the light fading from her eyes.

The cries of Yūrei, a two month old child, rang out in the stillness of the night as Minori took her last breath.

The wizened lady carefully took the baby from her arms, a weary sigh escaping her lips.

"Maidens, prepare a burial, and put Yūrei to bed."

"What will you name the baby?" one of the young girls asked timidly.

"From now on, she will have no last name. She will simply be known as… Sasayaki."

* * *

Let me get something straight with you:

I wasn't a normal person in this world. I was _different._

I was _special_.

Why, you ask?

I guess I'll tell you my secret;

I had a past life in another dimension, but that's not all of it. The world I was in, well, I knew the future, because once-upon-a-time this world was an anime. An anime that I loved and adored, but a simple anime none-the-less. And now, I was living it.

Although I soon found out it wasn't quite as exciting as it sounded.

It turned out I must have been a pretty bad person in my old life. How could I _not_ have been considering I was born into the red-light district? In a prostitute house at that. An abandoned mistake.

Honestly, the gods must have hated me.

But on a positive note;

at least it was Konoha.

Let me tell you, being pushed out of a ladies, ahem _, down south_ was not something I wanted to consciously experience again. Not that I really remembered it, all I remembered was some vague painful sensations.

But I really shouldn't have been thinking about that considering I was preoccupied with my hand down a man's pants pocket.

He didn't even notice as I breezed past him, his attention focussed on the blue-haired boy that tripped in front of him.

Nimble fingers slipped the coin pouch from its not-so-subtle location as the man roared with laughter at the spectacle of the fallen boy, the man beside him sneering disdainfully.

I had vanished into the throngs of people milling about long before he realised his coin pouch was missing. The wide street was busy with people of all varieties, out for their nightly activities. Ninja, drunk men and giggling women, curious teenagers, skinny children who eyed the masses hungrily.

The moon shone bright, illuminating the vague outline of the Hokage Mountain and the many sinful shops and clubs, bars and brothels lining the very street I navigated across.

It took me only moments to dart down a small alley that led to the back of a particular brothel. There, a hazel-eyed boy with matted brown hair awaited me.

"Sasayaki, you got somethin' ta show?" the six-year-old (or was he five?) asked enthusiastically, grinning. His voice was high pitched from youth, and he stumbled over his words for the same reason.

"Yea, but what 'bout you Yūrei? Your eye…" I trailed off. My voice imitated his lisp, for although my grasp on Japanese was mostly fluent from having learnt it to an extent in my past life (though my vocabulary was still very limited), it wouldn't do to garner attention. Therefore, I had to adopt the speech patterns of six-year-olds.

 _Ouch, that's one black eye he has…_

He frowned and raised a hand to his swollen eye, grimacing.

"S'nothing. Just got clipped, s'all. I didn' get da necklace neither, but I got this."

He raised his arm to show me the three chicken skewers in his hand, still warm. Street food, straight from the stall I remembered to be a couple of streets away. It was owned by an old lady with fading eyesight, and made for an easy target if needed. Though I preferred not to steal from her; that woman was one of those stereotypical kind old women. The kind of one you'd expect to present you with a batch of steaming hot, fresh cookies.

It always left me with a lingering sense of guilt whenever we took from her stall.

Another boy of age six appeared beside us, panting. His blue hair was damp with sweat, though his soft green eyes brimmed with victory.

"Did ya see that, Sasayaki-chan? That man todally fell for it when I tripp'd! Ya got the pouch, right?"

"Yea I got it. Good goin' Takeshi!" I smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

"Ok, let's split tha money up. A third for Takeshi, a half for us," Yūrei said, gesturing to the pouch in my hand.

"I think ya mean three-quarters for us," I corrected briskly, sitting on the hard ground to divide the coins into three piles. "Lady will be happy 'bout this," I added jovially.

Times were becoming rather hard, after all. Money was sparse, and the brothel simply wasn't enough to support Lady, the Maidens, Yūrei and myself. We all had to contribute our share. Even though Yūrei and I were only five/six years old.

"And I thin' we should share the skewers ourselves 'cause there isn't 'nuff ta share with all th'others," Yūrei added.

Maybe I was being a little selfish considering I immediately agreed, but damn was I _starving._ I'd missed dinner, which Lady and the Maidens would have filled up on, because I was out hunting with Yūrei and The Gang. We wouldn't tell them we'd eaten the skewers, of course, because Lady would go off on a strop. She was frankly _scary_ when she found out we'd kept things from her, but I suppose it made sense.

She didn't have to know.

The Gang comprised of a bunch of kids from the red-light district who joined up to work together in order to steal. The three of us being Yūrei, Takeshi and I were part of it too. That's how we met Takeshi, who we found out often hangs around near us (hence he participated in our thieving activities).

He was a street kid, a 'gutter rat' who often bunked down with Kiyoshi, the second-in-command of The Gang. Kiyoshi, at least, had a roof over his head. A small one, being the home his parents left behind when they left Konoha, but a roof none-the-less.

But I would talk more about The Gang later.

I handed Takeshi a third of the earnings from the pouch, which consisted of a meagre 50 ryo.

Code #1 to observe as a member of The Gang; the earnings were _always_ evenly split among all participating parties, no exceptions. Even if someone involved hadn't actively managed to steal anything to share.

Yūrei then handed him a skewer, at which Takeshi grinned and immediately chomped off a large bite.

"Thanks! See yous later!" Takeshi waved before spinning around, a streak of blue disappearing around the corner.

We'd probably see him tomorrow at the morning rendezvous with The Gang.

Or maybe I wouldn't, because I was planning on _finally_ using my knowledge to begin the changes needed to save the world from certain doom (curtesy of Madara).

I knew I had try and integrate myself in the plotline soon, after all I had already wasted six or five-ish years of my life 'growing up' a bit and getting acclimatised to… this world.

Yūrei passed me a skewer, and I wasted no time in tearing into the delicious meat, the herbs and spices melting into my tongue. I let out an appreciative moan which Yūrei mirrored as he bit into his own.

The aching pain in my stomach that had since become an uncomfortable hollowness over the last few hours disappeared.

Yūrei and I exchanged mutual nods as we finished our 'meal', and I wiped the grease on my hands onto my old, worn pants that were a hand-me-down from one of the Maidens. I'm pretty sure it was a hand-me-down before that, and probably before then.

Yūrei and I ran the rest of the way down the quiet alley after tossing the finished skewers onto the side of the road. At the end, on the left, was a high fence. We climbed over and found ourselves in the garden of the prostitute house. We ran up and jumped through the window into the back room where we stayed, so as not to disturb the customers.

"Lady, we're home!" Yūrei stage-whispered as we made our way to the kitchen.

"Took you long enough!" Lady snapped as we presented our earnings, holding the ryo out to her over the rugged counter.

She eyed the ryo before taking it from us and promptly began counting it.

It was only after she'd stashed it that her face softened concerning Yūrei's swollen eye. "Here, I'll find something to cover that." She invaded the small crate of supplies in the corner of the room, producing a makeshift eye-patch,

"Ummm, Lady, d'ya think I can go and explore for a few weeks?" I asked as she helped Yūrei tie it around his head

She hummed thoughtfully, before pinning me with a suspicious glare.

"What for?"

"Well, you see, I ain't been far round here and wanna scout some better hiding places for the future."

Lady's eyes narrowed further, and I had the distinct impression she didn't believe me.

"You may leave tomorrow morning, as long as you get your own food and water and get back here in the next couple of weeks. Otherwise I won't be able to help you if you get lost or hurt. And be careful of the kidnappers and ninja."

Yūrei opened his mouth to say something, but Lady cut him off.

"No, don't you dare think of going with her. I can't have both of you lost on the other side of the leaf village. Now both of you, off to bed. It's late!"

She ushered us out of the kitchen, Yūrei grumbling in annoyance and fingering his new eye-patch.

You might find it surprising that someone would let their (unofficially adopted) child run around town for weeks on their own, but in the red-light district it wasn't that strange, especially if a kid got chased to a new part of town and couldn't find their way back, or they stalked a particularly rich target over several days.

I got lost once, fairly recently actually considering my age. Probably only three weeks ago (we didn't keep track of time- calendars were a waste of money). Most street kids got lost in their time.

Needless to say, it scared the life out of me being that I was stranded in a village full of assassins.

But I had learned by then how to survive, and in four days I found my way home. Though I would rather not relive the experience; sleeping in gutters isn't exactly what you'd call an ideal vacation.

It wasn't uncommon for kids to end up finding a new home, either temporary or permanent if they got lost, either in a prostitute house or recruited by the local kids.

Or sometimes, they simply disappeared from the face of the earth.

I made my way to the dining room before bed to see if any of the maidens were finished with their respective clients to say goodbye since I planned to slip out immediately tomorrow so as not to get caught up- but they weren't done.

The dining room was just a small room with seven cushions arranged neatly in a rectangle on the floor around a low table.

The maidens wouldn't be finished until later tonight or even tomorrow, so I made my way to the small room shared by Yūrei and myself. Yūrei was already there, and he watched me as I entered. I made myself comfortable on the tatami mat with a couple of old blankets, not even bothering to get dressed. If I had anything else to dress into, I might have.

I shut my eyes.

"Lemme go with you," Yūrei said only a couple of minutes later. "What if ya never come back? Like that time you got lost, and y'almost never returned! Or what if something, _anythin'_ happens?"

I sighed inwardly.

 _I knew this was coming._

"Trust me, nothing will happen. I know what I'm doin', kay?"

Yūrei rolled onto his side, so he was facing away from me, and petulant silence ensued.

I fell asleep to the sound of light wind rattling the window, and a faint sense of guilt pooling in me.

But still, I slept.

* * *

I jumped out the window, stumbled a little, climbed back over the rusty fence and made my way down the alley once more. The street opened up before me, and I began navigating it aimlessly. I was searching for an orphanage because I figured that was a good place to start.

If you haven't realised yet, Yūrei and I helped support Lady and the maidens by stealing, trickery and conning. When I reached twelve I would become a maiden myself and earn money to support Lady, Yūrei and the other four maidens, according to Lady.

Well, I had a very different future planned for myself that did _not_ include becoming a prostitute.

I was going to stop the shit hole that was Naruto's life, and change the universe.

It couldn't be that hard, right? Just make a few changes here and there, and then the ripple effect would do the rest. At least, that was the idea.

It took me a while to adjust to this life so different to my old one, getting over the idea that ninjas exist and learning motor skills, and not to mention living almost dirt poor with no showers. Ever.

Honestly, I had to cut my long brown hair close to my head so it didn't mat. Lady said that when I turned 12 I could start showering, but at the moment we didn't have the money to spare water for a five-year-old. Yūrei was in the same position. We must have stunk from at least two meters away.

Anyway, I had a mission to accomplish. There was no way in hell I was letting the plot stay the same, and I was going to start by finding Naruto's orphanage. So I began my long trek of tricking information out of drunkards in bars and running silently along in the shadows to find the orphanages.

* * *

Two weeks. That was how long it took to find the right orphanage. Honestly, why did there have to be so many orphanages? Oh wait, it wasn't like it was a ninja village. Parents died all the time.

I stared at the entrance of the run down, two storey building. Children were laughing and playing out the front in a patch of green grass, a stark contrast to the gloomy building and the barbed wire fence surrounding it. I checked the sun.

About midday.

I watched as the 'guardian' snored in his place with his back against a tree, oblivious to the shrieking children around him.

Oh well, worked for me.

I sneaked around the back, excitement racing through my veins. This had to be the right orphanage, considering one of the people I had innocently walked up to with wide eyes and had asked "I got lost from home, please help me. I live at the orphanage with the _demon_ in it," had known _exactly_ where the 'demon' lived.

It was slightly concerning.

The man had told me where to go, and here I was.

The back of the establishment had many windows where I presumed the rooms were. I looked at them and hoped that Naruto would open his window to look outside.

No luck.

Honestly, I didn't even know what I was going to do when I saw him. My whole plan to combat the future at the moment went something like this:

1: Make friends with Naruto and Sasuke in case I couldn't stop the Uchiha massacre so we could be friends before Sasuke turned all angst-y, and Naruto and I could support him.

2: Get Sasuke away from the Uchiha district when the massacre happened so he would not be so traumatised (if massacre happened).

3: Stay friends for life, become awesome ninja and kick Orochimaru's, Obito's and Madara's asses.

See, I had it all planned out. If the massacre happened, Naruto and I would help Sasuke, and if it didn't, Sasuke would never leave. Easy as pie.

Anyway, that still didn't help my Naruto problem. I glared up the crumbly brick wall, wondering if I should rock-climb it and look into all the rooms when something happened.

One of the windows opened with a groan, and a rope was thrown out. I glanced around and quickly dove behind a tree as a blond-haired little boy leant out, looked left and right, then lifted himself onto the sill and started abseiling down. I stared, dumbfounded.

No way had Naruto just _happened_ to have appeared. I supposed it was about time Lady Luck came round after leaving me to survive in the red-light district.

He reached the bottom and dropped down, leaving the rope hanging as he ran away. I followed him silently through the trees, and I realised where he was going; to the centre of the village, where most restaurants and stalls could be found.

We reached a main road and Naruto ran through the crowds.

I grimaced as I realised I would have to give up hiding if I wanted to be able to follow him.

 _Great. Here's hoping no one notices a 'gutter rat' in their midst…_

I forced back my anxiety. This would be my first time properly entering a civilised part of town where the poverty was little to none. It was strange, considering my whole other life I'd grown up in similar circumstances, but now that I was actually the poor kid entering I felt out of place…

But there was really no choice.

I tore from the shadows as he disappeared into the bustling streets, and pushed my way through, hot on his trail.

"Sorry!" I shouted when I accidentally bumped a women. She shrieked and toppled over. I might have laughed if I hadn't been so distracted.

Continuing on, I caught a glance of disappearing orange behind a group of women. I panted, heart racing in excitement as I looked around, trying to see where he had gone between all the adult bodies.

 _God he's fast_. I almost gave up, though my saving grace came in the form of a loud voice;

"Ichiraku ramen, here I come!"

I saw a few people cast various glances towards the voice. Disgust, sneers, grimaces etc. I sighed and walked towards the Ichiraku stand.

I pushed past the entrance flap and the whiff of noodles and beef hit me. I breathed in deeply at the mouth-watering scents.

 _I haven't smelled anything this good since my other life._

I glanced at the row of stools next to the counter, remarking how few people there were.

 _Maybe the fear of the kyuubi vessel is influencing the market?_ I wondered absently.

I made my way unassumingly to the stool next to the blond who was talking animatedly with Teuchi.

Teuchi broke off the conversation with Naruto momentarily to look me over curiously. I pulled out the few coins I had and placed them on the counter.

Naruto turned around in surprise, unsure why Teuchi had stopped talking.

It was sad, considering he gaped when he saw someone who dared sit next to him.

"A… water please, sir," I muttered uncomfortably. Did you have to pay for water here? I couldn't remember, but there was nothing else I could possibly pay for with the few coins I had bothered picking up before coming here.

Teuchi gave me a warm smile and disappeared without taking the coins. And without a sound, for that matter.

I frowned, debating whether to leave them on the counter. Evidently, I wasn't as cultured as I would have liked yet.

 _Maybe water is free?_

My thoughts were disrupted as a shy voice interrupted.

"Hi my name's Naruto." Whiskered cheeks crinkled into a hesitant smile.

 _Naruto, shy? No way! Who is this kid, and where's the anime Naruto?_

Had I landed in an alternative Naruto universe?

I took a moment to observe his large light blue eyes, chubby whiskered cheeks and messy blond hair.

 _He's sooo cute!_

"I'm Sasayaki!" I beamed back. He returned my smile full force in one of those close-eyed smiles, ironically only effective in anime. Still, he pulled it off in a cute way I supposed.

And I'd let it slide; it was possibly the first time someone hadn't run away screaming when he spoke to them.

I blinked in confusion when the smile melted from his face, only to be replaced by a slight frown.

"Sasayaki, huh? That's a weird name," he muttered confusedly.

 _Well, nice to meet you too._

Ok, so maybe my name was a little weird because it wasn't _actually_ a _name_ , per se, but a word.

It wasn't like I chose it.

"Do you come to the ramen stand often?" he then asked timidly, obviously deciding not to question the strange conundrum that my name presented.

"No, it's my first time. I live on the street, so this is my first time to a restaurant."

He stared at me, wide-eyed.

"So that's why you stink and are all dirty!" and just like that, all the timidness washed away.

I glared at him.

"You're not meant to say that to people! It's socially unacceptable!" I exclaimed defensively. He just stared at me, uncomprehending.

I began explaining how you're meant to treat others. I was surprised at how articulate he was for a six year old. I had been pretending to be inarticulate like Yūrei so as not to raise suspicion, but Naruto has already progressed very well even without parents, so I dropped the act. He listened in awe throughout as I went into dress codes, table manners, cleanliness etc.

He interrupted occasionally to ask questions like: "Wow, I never knew that! Do you really put scented stuff under your arms so you don't smell?" and "I can't believe bright colours like orange are not acceptable for formal wear!"

After my two minute rant on social graces, our conversation somehow turned to our lives.

"So, why do you live mostly in the street?" he demanded brusquely, with the bluntness representative of his age.

"I was born there. Do you know about the red light district?" He shook his head in a negative.

"Well, it's like the dark side of the town, where prostitutes and dirty business goes on. Lots of abandoned or orphaned kids live there, either working or thieving."

"What's a pro-sti-tute?" he asked innocently.

"Umm… well, you'll find out when you're older," I evaded. Curiosity gleamed in his eyes, but he shrugged it off.

"So what about you?"

"I live in a prostitute house, but I won't be a prostitute until I'm twelve. I want to go to the ninja academy instead though," I replied, staring off into the distance.

Naruto gasped.

"I'm at the academy! I can ask the hokage for you to join my class! We can go together," he exclaimed excitedly. I looked at him thoughtfully.

That was actually my perfect opportunity. I'd forgotten that Naruto had started at the academy early. I was about to say yes when Teuchi reappeared with two steaming bowls of ramen. Naruto dug in instantly, and I was surprised when he put the other one in front of me. I was about to protest when he winked.

"Don't worry, this one's on the house. You could use a good hot meal." He turned to another customer who had just arrived before I could get a word in.

Then I thought a second.

Why was I protesting? It's not like another opportunity like free food would come along any time soon (at least, without thieving), and it's not like Teuchi would suffer from losing one meal.

So I started on my meal, eating as slowly as possible in order to savour the flavour. It was harder than it sounded, considering I hadn't had a decent meal for days.

Naruto and I ended up staying much longer than I'd anticipated, talking. Occasionally Teuchi or Ayame would join in but they seemed happy Naruto was making a new friend.

Finally, after Naruto's eighth bowl, I knew I had to leave. It was dark and the stall was packing up.

"Naruto, I have to go now, but do you want to meet up sometime? Maybe lunchtime in three weeks, back here?" That would give me time to run back to Lady and Yūrei, and time to find an excuse to not make it seem suspicious when I run off again.

"Yea! It'll be awesome! Maybe you can show me where to get deodorant and stuff, and the red-light district!" he yelled enthusiastically. I frowned. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, but I nodded anyway.

"Bye, don't forget!" I called and then pushed back outside onto the dimly lit street. I wandered about for a minute, trying to recall which direction to go. I was pretty far from home, after all.

I made my way into an alley, brick walls looming beside me. A black cat meowed and darted out from behind a bin, brushing past my leg as it escaped. The shadows enshrouded me and I walked carefully towards the end. I glanced around, uneasy, and decided to trust my instincts and get the hell outta there. This was a ninja village after all, there were murderers everywhere.

Before I had time to back out again I was suddenly thrown against a brick wall, a knife at my throat before I could even scream. Cold bricks dug into my back as I was forced against the alley wall, short legs dangling.

I was staring at a blank white mask.

"What do you want with the demon boy?" a voice demanded, strangely toneless.

I gulped as the kunai pushed uncomfortably into my skin, not quite drawing blood.

"I… I don't know what you mean," I rasped. There was a moment of tense silence as the man's eyes stared at me blankly through the eye holes in his mask.

Then he punched me in the stomach. It was almost laughable, how easily I was knocked out. I was unconscious before I even hit the ground.

* * *

 **Adventures of the Gang**

 _Pt. 1: Introducing the Gang_

 _By: Shinda-Shikai_

 _Edited by: Dragondancer81_

 _(Great thanks to Dragondancer for being such an awesome person and deciding to help me by editing and writing me omakes! We can expect some omakes written by her in the future, and of course her awesome help editing mine. Check out her profile, she has some awesome stories~)_

"Ok, Gang! Let's pray together for the Instigator of the Gang, and then we can get down to business! Sasayaki isn't here today, but we'll see her sometime in the next couple of weeks, right Yurei?"

The boy in question nodded seated with five others, before the teenager addressing them.

Junko, her name was, founder of the Gang. She'd created the Gang some six years ago, but despite this she was only fifteen years old. To this day she always made sure they prayed to the man who had inspired her to make the group before every meeting.

It wasn't anything special. Just a few quick words of thanks, they were street kids, they had business they needed to attend to.

None of the others in the Gang knew who the mysterious man was, and Junko had not seen him since. But she'd told them he was a very kind man and had done her what seemed a small kindness but to all street kids, they know the importance of such kindness.

After all, people may refer to the as 'small kindnesses', and yet Yurei himself had never experienced one of these from any stranger in his whole six years of existence. People aren't as kind as they'd like to think, in Yurei's experience.

Yurei was pretty sure that whoever he was, the man who had inspired Junko had forgotten all about her or he was dead.

Junko would say he was being pessimistic, it wasn't pessimism- it was logic. After all they were the eyes and ears of the shadier Konoha. If that man was still alive Junko surely would have seen him around. Yurei supposed he could have moved away but that was unlikely. Hardly anyone moves away from Konaha, it's not like the other hidden villages would be any better

Junko bowed her head in the shade of the single tree in the middle of the courtyard, the other kids following suit.

The courtyard was simply a small area of unused land that no one had bothered to build on. It had been left alone for quite some time- that was probably due to the fact it could only be entered through a small alley, and behind the courtyard was a shady bar whose customers often threw their cigarettes, rubbish and bottles over the wall.

It wasn't exactly the nicest place, but it was perfect for the Gang. No one ever came down here, few knew it existed in fact, and it was a good place to meet up and make plans. You just had to watch where you stood of course. Cuts meant infections and infections weren't good for street kids who avoided the hospital like the plague.

"Ok, let's begin! Since Sasayaki is the best pickpocket Takeshi and Yurei won't be doing the Cute and Cut tactic today. So that leaves the option that you two can either plan some swiping or advertise for odd jobs."

Yurei grimaced. Odd jobs were always a pain, and he didn't feel like swiping today, general thieving hadn't been going well for him lately. After all, the last time he'd swiped from a local market he'd been caught because his regular targets were beginning to recognise him… and putting together that whenever he was around, their stuff went missing.

Which meant he'd have to begin to test the waters in some new places, and that wasn't always fun.

"Wait, I think those two should come with us for the next couple of days," Eri (or was it Emi?) said, flicking her black fringe out of her eyes.

"Yea, I think if we had two kids watching us do our tricks it would attract others," Emi responded confidently, linking an arm with her identical twin. They were even wearing the same clothes, a black miniskirt and grey hoodie each. They were twelve years old, and very pretty.

Pretty enough that had they not become a part of their little family they probably would have already ended up in less-than legal jobs. Yurei shuddered. Whilst child prostitution was frowned upon, that didn't mean it didn't exist. After all weren't there rumours going around a while back about some sort of ninja-snake man, a missing-nin from Konoha? Yurei was pretty sure he heard some of the adults joking about how that man "liked them young".

Or maybe they weren't joking, after all…

Two sets of electric-blue eyes fell on him and Takeshi.

Eri and Emi, 'the magicians' they liked to call themselves. Although most of their repertoire consisted of card tricks used to extort money from others, they were _professional_ con artists. They also liked to perform tricks in front of a crowd, hopefully being rewarded a few coins for their efforts. (The extra attention was just a bonus of course).

And of course, being an identical twin could add quite a lot to their performances if used right… add more money that is.

Yurei and Takeshi nodded, and Yurei couldn't quite hide his excitement.

Watching Eri and Emi work was always lots of fun. Takeshi traded a grin with him, obviously sharing similar thoughts.

They'd scored a fun job today.

"Kiyoshi, what do you have in mind for today?" Junko then asked, turning to the second oldest member of the group.

Kiyoshi, fourteen and quite the sweet-talker. He was very good at tricking money from even the more suspicious adults. He had a knack for selling random and useless things he scavenged from anywhere and everywhere to people, and of course convincing people to give money to the fake charity Junko and Akemi were in charge of.

Though he didn't always sweet-talk in order to manage that…

"I was planning on talking to a contact of mine who said he might have some wares he'll let me sell… of course, I'll get to keep any extra money I can get from customers that exceeds the price he wants for each packet."

"Ok, Kiyoshi. I was hoping to have you go through The Bully routine at the charity stand with Akemi and myself, but we can do that another day."

The Bully routine consisted of Kiyoshi approaching the makeshift stand Akemi and Junko ran, and pretending to pick on Akemi for being a mute, therefore gaining the sympathy of any passers-by. They were more likely to donate to the fake charity like that.

Akemi actually was a mute. He was nine years old, and very timid. But with Junko's help, the charity he and she had managed to unofficially create with the help of Takeshi and himself stealing them supplies and even a table was running very well, and had been for a while.

They even had some regular donators, who didn't know that the money was going straight to the Gang rather than the 'Good-Cause Society of Mute Children' (GCSMC). The stand was a simple affair with a jar for money and posters spewing lies about what the charity is all about and all the kids it has helped.

Well, one could make an argument that the Gang was being helped, and was a very good cause to donate to, after all the 8 of them really did need the money for one reason or another.

Kiyoshi had managed to land them a bank account through an exchange of favours with one of his contacts. Yurei didn't know what that exchange had been, but it wasn't really his business anyway. In the end, the bank account dedicated to the (GCSMC) was managed by a man who would cash in the money every week, take a 10% cut for himself and pass on the rest to them. Kiyoshi was also responsible for restocking the documents to make the charity appear official and updated.

"Which reminds me, I have to run. My meetings in a few minutes. Will you be staying with me tonight, Takeshi?"

Takeshi shook his head in a negative, blue hair swishing with each movement.

"Nah, the Sisters at the southern brothel said they'd lemme stay t'night."

Kiyoshi nodded, hastily ran his fingers through his dark brown hair to make it appear less messy, and then he waved and ran off.

"Remember we're meeting this evening!" Junko called, to which Kiyoshi yelled an affirmative over his shoulder.

"Ok, so Akemi and I will be at the charity stand again today. We've moved to the far corner of the main strip, near the Diva shop so if you have any questions, find me there. All clear?"

The twins, Takeshi and Yurei nodded.

"Ok, good. Meeting adjourned. Get those arses moving!"

* * *

 _Song:_ Impossible

 _By:_ Lacey Sturm

* * *

 **Reviews are loved!**


	3. Down the Hole

_Song:_ It has begun

 _By:_ Starset

* * *

"Did you hear, Chika-sama? A woman managed it. The woman named Endo Minori."

"Ah yes, I remember her. She had so much potential, I can't say I'm surprised… I suppose I can thank Lady for taking her in after her downfall. But I'm afraid we're too late. The war hawk got to the child first. But don't lose faith; after all, chances are the child's father will be careless once more."

"Yes, I'll prioritise him in the notices across all nations..."

"Good."

* * *

Darkness, followed by the slow filtering of dim light as your eyes struggled to open.

Next came the panic, caused by the sudden realisation that your body was immobile, that your groggy mind functioned enough to inform you of the inevitable.

Your limbs restrained, ankles and wrists straining against rough material, heedless of the skin being rubbed off leaving them raw and painful.

Cold.

Your old thin clothes were doing nothing to stave off the natural frigidity of the bland room, and your small thin, verging on skinny, body helped you none.

Terrified.

You took in your surroundings breathlessly, chest heaving.

A sparse grey room, cube-shaped with nothing visible but a mirror reflecting your sorry state. There you sat, in a metal chair just as dull as the rest of the room, the only discrepancy being the malicious nature of the rope cuffing you to the armrests and chair-legs.

Your eyes, a grey so dark they would better be referred to as black, displayed the true nature of your emotions for all to see.

The mirror spanned the width of the whole wall opposite you, and reflected on the middle of the wall behind you was a single wooden door.

That was how I woke on that fateful day.

I'd watched enough detective movies to know anyone could be watching me from the other side of the obscure window.

Hopelessness washed through me. I had a feeling I knew where I was

As time went on and no one appeared, I began to calm down enough to think things through.

As far as my theories went, I had been taken in by Danzo's minions because I had gotten slightly too close to Naruto. Though why they cared about who Naruto interacted with, I wasn't sure, but I could take a guess:

Because they didn't want someone to control the kyuubi, emotionally or physically, or they didn't want him killed and the 'weapon' lost.

That led to Naruto having only verified friends, like academy teachers and old Konoha-born civilians. It didn't include random kids that appeared out of nowhere that attempted to befriend him, civilian or no. I probably had no record on file either, no birth certificate, no identity.

I could only hope no mind reading techniques would be involved, otherwise my past life would be revealed. I paled further as I realised how stupid I had been.

Not that your average person would jump to the conclusion that Naruto was being watched.

 _Well, too late now,_ I thought, dryly.

If I hadn't been tied to the chair, I would have jumped a foot in the air when the door behind me slammed open. The small amount of calm I had managed to retain shattered instantly as I heard footsteps and the suspicious sound of a cane hitting the ground approached me. I didn't dare look in the mirror, my eyes squeezing shut, hoping that not _seeing_ would somehow make it not _real_.

But it did nothing, it did not even delay the inevitable.

A man came to a stop in front of me, a mere foot away from where I was bound.

And I forced my eyes open, raising my head slowly and torturously up the length of the man before me. From the black material pooling around his feet, trailing up the plain wooden cane in his hand and past his purple sash-belt. Next, a lump vaguely resembling a bent arm was hidden beneath his clothes (almost like it was broken), and finally I found myself staring into a single, emotionless eye.

His head was bandaged on one side and across his forehead, a scar created an X-shape on his chin and the wrinkles creasing his face took nothing from his intimidating appearance.

Sweat beaded on my brow as a root member appeared next to me, and I felt my teeth begin to chatter. I tried to force them to stop, but I couldn't. I was pretty sure he was leaking killing intent, but I couldn't identify it as I had never experienced it before.

I knew I should be more in control of myself, but how could I counter killing intent with no training?

I shrank into my chair as Danzo stood there motionlessly, seemingly surveying me. Sweat began pouring down my brow and my eyes became unfocussed as fear gripped me.

 _Stop it!_ I tried to tell myself, but even though I had no reason to be scared I couldn't help it. I started picturing my death, a kunai through my throat, a chidori through my chest, even a ledge and a long drop. Anything my mind could think of. I shook, and tried to scream for him to stop, my mouth moving up and down, but the words wouldn't come.

It felt like an eternity, but was probably no more than a few seconds.

 _They're not going to hurt me, they're not going to hurt me…_ I repeated to myself. Unless they tortured me for information and then wiped my memories.

 _Well, shit._

"I hear you recently made friends with a boy named Naruto. Is this correct?" Danzo started, and suddenly the fear lifted slightly.

"Ye.. ye.. yes," I managed, throat dry. "What d-do you w-want from me, who are y-you?" I squeaked embarrassingly.

Even in my state, I knew I needed to keep my clueless-self up. Perhaps it was simply survival instincts kicking in, but I was thankful none-the-less.

Danzo lent down until we were face to face and gave me a grandfatherly smile, and I might have fallen for it if I didn't know who he really is. Although he would have a hard time getting any kid to trust him with this killing intent.

Almost in conjunction with my thoughts, the killing intent fell away in an instant.

And suddenly I could _breathe_.

Funny, for at that moment I couldn't be sure it was a curse in disguise. Wretchedly, I gasped for the air withheld from me by sheer _fear._

"We are simply protecting the boy. You shouldn't get close to him unless you want to stay safe."

For some reason, those two sentences didn't seem to go together.

"What is your name? I can see you have no chakra training. I am sorry to have scared you, but since we couldn't find any records of you, you may have been a spy. So I'm just going to ask a few questions to make sure."

Should I tell him? Should I lie? He would probably be able to tell if I lied anyway, so I couldn't chance it.

"My name… is Sasayaki."

Danzo hand blurred as he made a hand-sign to the root member that I might have missed had I not expected such a thing. He was probably verifying with the silent root member if I was telling the truth.

"Good boy. So who are your family? Where do they live?"

 _Good… boy?_

I really shouldn't have been surprised to be mixed up for a boy; street girls who haven't hit puberty often are. Short dirty hair and old, gender-neutral clothes hardly help. But it often worked in our favour anyway.

That being said, I decided not to enlighten him. The thought somehow centred me; there was something I knew that Danzo didn't. I wasn't totally hopeless, despite the circumstances.

I would get out of this.

 _But still, he called me a fucking boy! I'm a girl, you retarded old man!_

 _Ahem, back to the situation at hand…_

"I'm an orphan. I live at a prostitute house in the red light district." I didn't expand on that.

No point giving away too much information if I could.

"What were you doing following the demon boy, away from there?"

"I was…" Shit. I couldn't tell the truth, so I had to settle on a half-truth.

"I… I was talking with some people and they told me about a boy that everyone avoided, and I was curious. I wanted to get away from the prostitute house so I decided to find him. He must be lonely, after all." There. That was true, just not in that order.

Another flash of hand signs and then Danzo rose to his full height.

"It is rare that we find someone who actively seeks out someone that is avoided. I have a proposal for you. I'll let you be friends with the boy if you report directly to me, and you train with some of my other disciples."

I couldn't help my mouth dropping open.

Danzo was recruiting me? How had I possibly fallen into this mess? I supposed it made sense as he would get a close look out on Naruto, but why the training?

There was no way I wanted to turn into another emotionless killer Sai. I was about to attempt to politely turn him down when his next words stopped me short.

"If you accept, I can even place you in the academy and get you on a team with him when you graduate." He must have heard about me wanting to enter the academy. No doubt someone had been listening in on the conversation between myself and Naruto the moment it began.

I thought about it for a moment.

On one hand, Danzo's training would probably be one hell of an undertaking. But on the other hand, a 100% guarantee to be on Naruto's team would take a lot of stress off of my shoulders, along with not raising the hokage's suspicions if I had to get Naruto to ask for my permission to enter the academy.

And maybe I'd learn some kick-ass jutsu on the way.

 _No way will I let him make me into a robot. No amount of torture will change that._

This was my first step to saving the future. I could use the training for my own benefit, I was one step ahead. It would all work out in my favour. Danzo wouldn't even know what hit him.

"I accept."

* * *

Following the meeting with Danzo, I found myself back in the red-light district outside of my prostitute house, the glowing letters of the 'Mischievous Maidens' above the entrance outlined in the darkness. The stars twinkled above.

Well, Danzo had done his homework. Lucky I hadn't lied, he'd probably known who I was before I even told him, or had found out while I had my chat with him.

I picked myself up off the ground and made my way inside the brothel, and found Lady in the kitchen at the back of the establishment (past the small bar and various rooms arrayed at the front), and two of the maidens chatted with each other as Lady prepared dinner. The smell of slightly burnt rice and seaweed wafted towards me.

"I'm back!" I shouted cheerfully.

"Sasayaki!" Ko cheered as she and Ran rushed over to me. Lady turned around and gave me a once over, checking I was ok, then turned back to her cooking with a snort.

Well, I was _better_ than ok. I was _great._ I had achieved so much in the span of several days.

"Lady has been really worried about you. And tonight we had absolutely no customers! I think she feels stressed," Ran whispered as we made our way onto the cushions in the 'dining' room.

I frowned. No customers? That was rare.

"So where are the others?" I asked, referring to the other Maidens.

"They're out the back playing cards. You wanna join them?" Ko asked.

"Sure, let's go play!" I grinned and dragged them to go outside with me. We reached the window and stared out into the small yard, lit by a single lamp. I could make out their silhouettes, Chou and Eiko as they sat across from each other. I stopped the girls from jumping out to join them as I felt my veins turn to ice.

Something wasn't right. Not a sound was uttered from the two girls outside, and I couldn't see a single movement. Yūrei was missing, too.

Ko and Ran picked up on my unease.

"Why are they so-" Ran never finished her sentence. A kunai flashed past my face and embedded into her throat.

For a moment my mind didn't register it. Then, almost in unison, Ko and I screamed.

Death can be such a sudden thing. A single moment, a split second.

I would know.

Ko stumbled away from the window and from the corpse that crumbled beside me.

But I was frozen solid, transfixed by the unmoving figures of my childhood, my friends that had helped raise me, lived side by side with me for six years.

And my mind finally picked up the missing piece. The blood that pooled under their crossed legs, trickling down their sides and shirts and _necks._ Six _years_ seemed to blur in my memory, as if muddled by the scene before, uncomprehending of what reality presented.

They…

They were…

(Gone)

Taken away from me in the dark of night.

(In the dead of night)

"Lady! Lady, help us! Ran is dead!" I could hear Ko sobbing hysterically, in the background and Lady shouting for her to calm down and explain.

As I stared at the work of a ninja for the first time, my numb mind supplied an answer.

 _Danzo._

I knew what was coming next. I _knew,_ but my feet were rooted to the ground in fear. I couldn't move to save Ko and Lady, panic caused my brain to shut down and my head to pound.

 _Move!_ I screamed to myself and finally rationality took over.

Or perhaps it wasn't rationality, but it was all I had short of outright fleeing.

I raced to the kitchen in time for Ko's screams to cut off as she slumped to the floor.

Right next to Ko's lifeless body a root member stood with Lady in a chokehold, a knife to her throat.

Her eyes full of seeming comprehension as she struggled for a breath. But maybe I was mistaken; situations like this could often skewer one's perspective.

"This is your initiation to Root. Your strongest ties will be erased from the red-light district and your new identity will be established," the Root member's lifeless voice intoned.

Time seemed to slow down as I lunged forwards, tears already sliding down my cheeks.

I reached my hand out, to do something, _anything,_ to stop the inevitable. I knew it was in vain, but try I did.

My mouth opened and an eerie scream pierced the night, along with a spray of blood, thick in the air and then across the floor.

The last thing I saw was Lady's eyes, wide with a strange glint of horrified realisation in them.

"Shi… no… sasayaki." She fell to the floor.

Dead.

* * *

My third consecutive awakening proved to be disastrous, just like the last two.

Funny how I had thought everything was going so well. This time, I knew better.

For I woke up to a large underground cavern, propped against a wall while a group of Root members were training in front of me.

 _Children, my age,_ I noted numbly. It took a moment when everything that had happened crashed down on me.

And I _screamed_ tears falling thick and fast from my cheeks.

The children and their instructor stopped what they were doing and all turned and stared at me silently.

Emotionlessly.

Though how could I know, for they all wore masks. But I did, because I had the knowledge.

The cursed knowledge, cursed only because I didn't know how to use it right.

I couldn't help it. I clutched my head in my hands, looking around wildly for an escape.

 _I didn't want this! I never should have chosen this. I need to get out of here!_

All those years of making a life for myself, a family even, were lost.

Suddenly a Root another member appeared in front of me. A fist planted itself in my cheek. Then another to my stomach, and to my ribs. I pulled my arms down to defend myself as I was pummelled into the wall. I coughed blood and keeled over on my hands and knees.

"Root members do not show emotion. When you have learned this, you may stand up and join the session."

 _A woman._ I realised from the tone of her voice. But that was of no consequence; in the end, she was just a machine.

I coughed some more and flopped to the floor in pain, clutching my stomach and face.

 _I shouldn't be alive. It's my fault they all died, but also Danzo's. I'm going to kill him,_ I thought bitterly.

I didn't get up for a long time. I lay there, silently crying. My throat hurt from holding back my sobs but I didn't want to get hit again. Hours passed, and the training session left for the night, and another one came in, this time more experienced members. No one gave me a second glance. I wondered vaguely if it was a common occurrence, or if they just didn't care. Maybe a bit of both.

I watched distantly the gruelling training they went through, running circuits and sparring. They were so fast I could barely make it out as they ran at each other, hands flashing through hand seals as jutsu went everywhere in deadly precision.

 _I wish I was that strong._

After I had calmed down enough to have some semblance of coherent thought I knew I had to come up with a plan.

It was with a calmness wrought from eventual but fleeting numbness that I managed to gather myself enough to plan.

 _For now I should just go along with what they want me to. I need to get strong otherwise I'll just be killed. I can still make things right, I can change the future, save everyone. I'm the only one that knows how. I'll learn that reanimation jutsu from Orochimaru or Kabuto… If I can get strong enough._

Now that an unhealthy train of thought. I knew, but I didn't care. I _would_ do it, damn the consequences.

And with that I stood on shaky legs, plastering on a blank façade. It was a weak one, but better than my outright crying. I stood and the same lady appeared in front of me, her white mask looming over me.

White, the colour suited for protectors, heroes and angels. It was _wrong_ , oh so wrong.

"Good, you are learning quickly. You may now start your training. Follow me."

She turned on her heels, and I was but a step behind.

I would do this, I would save everyone. I would save Sasuke, and Naruto, and Itachi and everyone affected.

And then I would force Orochimaru or Kabuto to teach me the reanimation jutsu, and bring Lady and the Maidens back.

No one would stop me.

* * *

 _Song:_ It has begun

 _By:_ Starset

* * *

 **Adventures of the Gang**

 _Pt. 2 Cards (1)_

 _By: Shinda Shikai_

 _Edited by: Dragondancer81_

It was late morning, the sun strong and stifling. Yurei raised a hand to fan his face, before wiping off a bead of sweat.

 _I s'pose they call it the 'Land of Fire' for a reason…_

Eri and Emi had decided to set up near Junko and Akemi's charity stall, on the main strip where most people came to visit the various popular clubs.

"Ok, so we're going to start with some conning then we'll do some showy stuff later. What you two can do is pretend to play us every now and then and we'll let you win, then people will think it's possible." Emi paused to let it sink in. "Got it?"

"Yea, can I go first?" Yurei asked excitedly.

It was about an hour in; they'd made a few hundred ryo, which was a pretty good catch. Eri and Emi had decided to change tactics and had started doing simple card tricks instead of conning, because a small group had formed and were getting agitated trying to figure out why someone only occasionally won the games.

Which meant they might begin demanding answers soon and that was never a good thing.

Takeshi and Yurei had inconspicuously joined the small crowd, making it appear larger as Eri and Emi began a well-practiced routine of tricks.

Fortunately or unfortunately, a large portion of the crowd had already left since the games had obviously ended, grumbling about the ryo they had lost to two little girls. Well it was their fault in the first place for trying to cheat some poor innocent children.

Only three kids remained to watch.

Two boys, one maybe a year older than Yurei had dark red hair tied up in a ponytail. His eyes were slanted and a startling grey colour, with a single red teardrop shape painted on each cheek. He appeared disinterested as he watched Emi and Eri work, but his eyes remained fixed on the spectacle.

Next to him the other boy with shaggy blond hair and deep blue eyes, probably about Yurei's age, was watching the cards flow about from Emi to Eri intently, appearing deep in thought despite his young appearance.

Finally, beside the blond one was a girl about the same age with the same blue eyes, but she had long black hair and was extremely pretty. She wasn't even paying much attention to the spectacle, if her bored expression and fidgeting were any indication.

Yurei didn't trust them.

After Eri and Emi completed their routine, they bowed and smiled at the kids, obviously not expecting any donations. Unless their parents were wandering around nearby, though who would willingly bring their children to a place like this was a mystery.

Takeshi and Yurei made a show of clapping enthusiastically and cheering, the blond one following suit. The red haired one clapped politely, while the girl just sneered disdainfully.

"Hey that was really good you two!" Blond boy chirped, the thoughtful expression long since disappeared. "Can you teach us?"

"Sorry, trade secret," Emi said with a small laugh.

"I'll teach you a few tricks if you teach us some of yours," the red-haired one drawled.

That made Emi pause, and she and Eri traded a glance.

"What can you do?" Eri asked carefully.

Red-haired boy whipped out a deck of cards from seemingly nowhere.

"Just a thing or two," he grinned, eyeing the twins. "Have you two learnt about chakra?"

"Uh, no…" Emi said uncomfortably. The ninja round these streets weren't interested in teaching a couple a brats and it's not like they trusted any ninja to teach them anyway.

"Hm, that's a shame. Oh well, for civvies you two are pretty good, especially to some places we've been. I have some civilian tricks you might like…"

 _Ninja?_ Yurei wondered. But surely not, they were much too young. Unless they were in disguise or something, but that was unlikely. There was something slightly off here but it wasn't causing any alarm so Yurei just played it off as the fact that those biscuits he ate earlier were a little old.

The grinning grey-eyed boy opened the deck, spread his hands apart and Yurei and Takeshi watched in awe as, with a flick of his wrist, the whole deck flew, card by card like a long train, to his other palm.

Emi and Eri looked like Christmas had come early.

"Deal!" Eri said. "Which trick were you thinking from us?"

"Actually, I wanted you to show me how that game you were playing earlier works," he said.

"Papa alert!" the girl suddenly hissed, loud enough for them all to hear.

Immediately, the red-haired one went rigid, and the blond boy sucked in a breath.

"Thank you, we gotta go!" the blond one said, and the three spun around only for a man to suddenly appear in their path.

Yurei and Takeshi, being close and having very little knowledge of ninja, jumped. Takeshi let out an instinctual scream.

The man was tall and slim, appearing in his mid-twenties, with the same shaggy, faded blond hair as the blond boy yet his eyes were the grey of the red-haired boy.

What was truly striking, however, were his clothes. On his head sat a black and yellow jester hat. He wore a trench coat with coattails and beneath that were yellow and black striped tights. To top it off, he had elf-like black shoes that even had small heels on them.

"Hi there!" he said cheerily, but Yurei felt an uneasy feeling wash over him at the man's smile. There was something… _off_ about it. This time he knew it wasn't the cookies, there was something wrong here. This whole situation was making him edgy.

And plus, the man was obviously a _ninja._ Everyone in the red-light district knows not to trust ninja.

His eyes roved first over Takeshi and then Yurei, before looking Emi and Eri up and down and finally coming to rest on the three tense kids before him.

"Have you made some friends?"

"No, in fact we were just leaving," the red-haired boy said coolly.

"Nonsense! Considering you three have been here for the last twenty minutes, you must have found something… _impressive."_

Emi and Eri flinched simultaneously as the man stepped past the three supposed siblings and stood before the small table expectantly.

"Oh, cards are they?" the man murmured, grey eyes gleaming with interest. "I'd like to play. I saw the crowd here earlier; why don't you try me?"

"Papa, they were useless and boring, it was just funny watching them fail. Why don't we just leave?" the red-haired boy drawled.

"Really? Well, let me judge for myself," the man purred, his voice like honey.

Takeshi and Yurei exchanged worried glances as Emi and Eri nervously faced the man, obviously realising something was up with this. They didn't even react to being called useless and boring.

"Uh, that'll be 30 ryo, for one round," Eri stated, straightening herself up so as to appear confident. "If you win, you'll get a return of 45 ryo."

The man smiled in acceptance, paid and sat down, crossing his legs.

"Who is he?" Yurei couldn't help but whisper to the blond boy.

"Someone you don't want to know. Are you with them?" the blond one whispered, indicating Emi and Eri.

He hesitated in revealing that yes, he and Takeshi were with them but the boy seemed to be trustable.

"Yea," he said finally.

The game started, Eri being the moderator while Emi and the man began to play.

"You better hope you don't catch his attention," the boy uttered.

* * *

 **A/N~**

 **I _was_ planning on spending a bit more time on building up the characters from the Mischievous Maidens but I figured since they were going to die, that would have been a little mean of me...**

 **Plus, as my old readers would know, I'm a lazy little shit xD**

 **Question:**

 **Who is your favourite Naruto character(s)?**


	4. Dark Days

_Song:_ Edge of the Earth (nightcore)

 _By:_ 30 Seconds to Mars

* * *

"You are looking particularly enthusiastic today, Kabuto. Care to share?"

"Oh, nothing of too much importance, my lord. I am simply going to be doing a medical examination a possible interesting new recruit of Danzo's. Nothing for you to worry about."

"Hm, is that so? Well, I trust you to report should anything interesting come up…"

The only response was a smirk.

* * *

 _You will sleep on this bed._

A thin, long room with numerous bunk beds lining the two sides. Enough to fit thirty people (children). At the end, a single door led to a single bathroom and a single shower.

There were no windows, only a single light for the long room.

A bunk bed, towards the middle of the room, was pointed out. There was nothing special about it, no decorations. The sheets were plain white, as was the pillow. Just like every other one.

 _You will wake every morning at 5:00am, you will march in an orderly fashion into the corridor and line up for your teacher to collect your class._

Outside the bunker room (I wouldn't even deign to call it a dorm), a corridor just as bland as the rest of the place was dimly lit even though not a light or torch could be seen. It stretched in two directions which both turned into two more corridors. Every now and then, a door labelled with a number could be seen. My bunker was titled 'K-44'.

 _This is your timetable. It is no different to any other child of your bunker, save for Saturday in which you will undergo specialised training._

Monday to Friday: Taijutsu in the mornings, spying/subterfuge midday and emotional training evenings, finishing at 9:00pm.

Saturday: Specialised training.

Sunday: History and applicable concepts.

 _The rest of your induction will occur tomorrow, with the rest of dormitory B-44._

Not a single inflection marred her tone, not a note of emotion. It was uncanny, in the worst way.

 _Do not ask questions, do not talk back, do not_ speak _unless ordered_. _You are nothing. Feel nothing. This is how true peace will be accomplished; to rid mankind of its emotions a perfect world will be created. A world without pain and suffering, an efficient and flawless system of life directed by Danzo-sama. Danzo-sama paves this future; we are simply tools to be used and disposed as he sees fit. Soon, you will learn this. Accept this ideal, live this ideal._

I wanted to scream, to tell her how _wrong_ this all was. But I didn't. I didn't, even as countless questions swarmed around my head, all unanswerable by the being in front of me.

 _Your name will be 737-A until you are assigned a permanent one._

I stayed silent.

 _Hail Danzo-sama._

It began.

* * *

 **DAY 1 (Friday)**

* * *

" **Today** , we will be practicing simple kata movements, before moving onto strength and endurance training before finishing with some light sparring. **"**

 _-Taijutsu training- 'light' sparring-_

"Beat her while she is down. Show no mercy."

The boy trembled slightly at the sensei's gaze and turned back to me with a gulp, but his eyes, my god his eyes _burned_ with the will to impress his teacher. What else could he do, after all?

But that didn't really help my predicament.

Maybe, had I been just as young mentally as he, I would have been the same.

But I wasn't, and so I didn't know _what_ to do.

I sat up and covered my injured eye with my hand. I didn't move, my breath caught in my throat as I saw the tearful eyes of my opponent, fearful yet not at all apologetic.

Well excuse- _me_ , I should have been the one scared here. Oh wait, I was.

 _Children at this age,_ I remembered from a class long ago, _are generally egocentric by no fault of their own._

He lunged forward, and I closed my eyes tightly. There was a sickening crunch on my hand that was holding me up in my sitting position.

So, that's how I ended up with a black eye and broken finger. Really, what were we, five? And already the boy broke my finger just to please the teacher.

I had to admit, I went down screaming like a banshee, clutching my hand. I mean, a black eye is bearable, but not a fucking _broken finger!_

The teacher made a pleased sound at the boy.

Then;

"Stand up, 737-A. You will not scream or cry. Consequences of failure to comply include beatings, temporary starvation or isolation."

I stood.

I shut my mouth.

I dried my tears.

And I punched the other boy in the face, completely catching him off guard. He screamed and clutched his nose which was bleeding profusely.

No one messes with my beautiful face.

My moment of triumph only lasted as long as it took for our sensei to inform the boy that he was to meet him down in room 241 at 'twenty-hundred' for disciplinary action.

"Good tactic, 737-A. As you were."

And it continued.

* * *

" **Today** you will be introduced to the art of lock-picking and recognising traps, including basic fuuinjutsu traps. **"**

 _-Subterfuge training- lock-picking-_

"737-A, the wire you chose is correct, however a better place to hide it would be in a wig or stuck to the bottom of a shoe. Understood?"

I beat back a flush of embarrassment.

"Understood," I mumbled to the white mask looming above me.

"Remove it now."

I cringed but hurriedly reached into my pants and drab underwear (provided by Root) to remove the piece of wire.

* * *

" **Today** you will learn how to wield several instruments of torture along with the weakest and most painful parts of the human anatomy. You will then withstand mild verbal abuse without reaction. Finally, a small tour will guide you through the T&I department, in which you will one day aid in the extraction of information from criminals. **"**

 _-Emotional training- the T &I department-_

The T&I turned out to be joined to Root. There was a single door, hidden to those of the T&I department, that opened up into the office of one Ibiki Morino.

Pathetic hope welled in my chest.

 _If Ibiki is here, maybe he'll help us?_

Ibiki Morino simply nodded to our sensei as we entered his office, not standing up from where he was seated at his desk.

"Room twenty seven," he told our sensei.

When his eyes briefly swept over us, the group of children newly recruited, grieving, tired, and scared, I saw nothing resembling sympathy. In fact, he remained as expressionless as any other Root member.

"A good haul this time," was all he murmured, before turning away.

All my hopes crashed down.

It made something blindingly clear, something terrible;

Root wasn't all so cut off from the rest of the village as I'd expected.

The hokage sanctioned this, allowed it, _used_ the services provided for his own benefit.

 _How could he? How_ dare _he?_

And then our sensei ushered us from the office.

Various people that we passed, obviously employees, didn't even give us a second glance. I think I even recognised Inoichi through one of the obscure glass windows. Inside, he sat at a plain metal table across from a man that was cuffed to his chair. The man appeared to be crying.

I didn't see any more than that though, for we didn't stop to stare.

It was immaculate, the whole department. White blinded me upon walking the halls, from the gleaming tiles to the plain walls to the luminescent lights.

It would make the red stand out all the more in the cuboid room we entered.

Room 27.

In the middle, a criminal hung from a frame, his ankles and wrists holding him in place. He was blindfolded, and his torso was bared for all to see.

"I will demonstrate," our sensei began tonelessly, "the proper way to extract information."

And from his pouch he produced a single kunai.

* * *

"You may have a shower. No longer than two minutes, or their will be severe consequences."

I was much dirtier than I expected, in the literal interpretation of the word, for my short hair washed out several layers of dirt and grit, and on the top layer blood.

And beneath the dry mud caking my hair, white revealed itself.

I only knew because the metal frame of the shower blurrily reflected it back at me (for no mirrors were present), in a moment where my eyes wandered. But I couldn't stop to stare, for my two minutes were quickly coming to an end.

But still.

White. Hair.

 _THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME!_

* * *

 **DAY 2 (Saturday)**

* * *

" **You** may refer to me as Yugi-sensei. I will be teaching you to utilise a bastardised version of the 'Adamantine Attacking Chains' of the Uzumaki clan. **"**

 _-Specialised training-_

My sensei and I (I was having private lessons with a different teacher) stood in a large clearing outside the village where no one could see us. An underground Root passage had brought us here, and I knew that on the edge of the clearing was a secret entrance.

I dared not ask her if she was an Uzumaki, for fear of the repercussions. She didn't have red hair, rather her hair was a dark purple, the same shade as her eyes, and she wasn't wearing a mask. She seemed fairly young, maybe in her early thirties. Her hair was in a simple braid tucked into the back of her vest so it wouldn't get in the way.

"I can tell you're dying to ask. Ask away."

I blinked in confusion.

 _Is this a trap?_

"Fine, I'll answer for you. Yes, I have Uzumaki heritage. I'm not wearing a mask because I don't want to and Danzo-sama can't fucking make me. I may work for him, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Lastly, the chain style is called 'Circulation Chains' and we'll get into theory later. The point of you learning it is to restrain the kyuubi, and deplete its chakra therefore reducing it to a manageable size and power."

A pause in which she took a breath.

"By the way, you can ask questions and whatnot."

I stared at her blankly, deciding not to fall for the bait. If it _was_ bait.

She seemed like a crackpot to me. Why would _Danzo_ let her work for him with _that_ attitude? It must be a trap.

She rolled her eyes.

" _Understood,_ you mindless runt?"

Annoyance flared inside me, but I had the permission required. She'd made it an order, after all, therefore I couldn't be blamed later.

So, pretty much we were playing a crappy version of 'Simon Says'.

"Understood," I replied, still keeping my voice as flat as possible. I didn't want to get called out on showing emotions after all, even if the woman was basically asking for it.

Maybe this was considered another form of 'verbal abuse' training?

* * *

 **Day 3 (Sunday)**

* * *

" **Today** you will begin learning basic chakra theory. A recent bingo book, general edition, will be handed out and expected to be memorised by next week. In the future you will be expected to know the recorded history of all the nations. **"**

 _-History and applicable subjects-_

I was dead tired, my muscles aching, low on chakra and my eyes felt dry and heavy.

To sum it up, I felt like shit. The other kids seemed to be adapting fairly fast, but not me. Definitely _not._ I hadn't slept a wink for the last two days.

So it really shouldn't have been a surprise when I fell asleep (or more like unconscious) at my desk. The desks were divided to only fit one person per desk (I don't know why I was surprised) so I didn't have to worry about anyone sitting next to me.

It was almost like I could imagine it being like a lecture in my old life. I suppose that's why I let my guard down.

That was my first mistake.

 _Thwack._

I jolted upright, my eyes shot open and I clutched the back of my head, where I had been hit with a history book, if the thick book in sensei's hand was any indication.

"737-A, you will report to room 241 at twenty-hundred for disciplinary action," Sensei stated coldly.

The other kids were already filing out of the room, the first half of the lesson obviously over.

Score for me! I'd slept for almost 6 hours!

I certainly wasn't thinking that at 8pm that night.

I didn't make the same mistake again.

* * *

 **DAY 4 (Monday)**

* * *

Ate sludge- sorry, 'breakfast'.

Trained.

Ate muck. What do you mean? Did I say that? No, I said _lunch_.

Learnt how to recognise certain fuuinjutsu traps.

Got verbally abused.

Tortured a spy for information. _(I do not know them, therefore they do not matter. I don't care that they're screaming, I_ don't care _)._

Ate shit- whoops, I meant dinner.

2 minute cold shower, trying not to let the water hit my back. Washed the blood off myself (but it never seemed to come off my hands).

Lay in small, thin bunk-bed on my stomach, trying not to focus on the movement of the bed caused by the kid below me.

* * *

 **Day 15 (FRIDAY)**

* * *

Ate breakfast.

Trained.

Saw a boy get punished for giggling.

Learnt how to act like a civilian maid.

Got horribly verbally abused (with a straight face).

Tortured a captured missing-nin (with a straight face).

Was called to see Danzo.

* * *

My heart pounded in my throat. What had I _possibly done_ to be called up by Danzo?

I swallowed as the Root member that collected me, Feretto, left me in front of the large mahogany door.

"Knock twice and enter," he ordered behind his white ferret mask before vanishing.

I paused a moment, took a deep breath, and placed my knuckles against the door.

I rapped twice, twisted the handle and walked in with my head down.

I bowed low immediately, before I'd even looked around the room, and waited.

"Stand, 737-A. Come forwards." He stood from his chair and moved around his desk as he spoke.

The voice of the man I hated most seemed to echo in the dimly lit room. The only furnishing was a single desk and chair, stacks of papers neatly arranged on the desk. A step located in the middle of the room ensured he was raised above any visitors.

I slowly raised my upper body until I was standing once more, fighting back my emotions as I fixed my gaze on his shoes. This was standard, had I met his eyes it would have been a sign that I viewed him as an equal or below me. For once, I was glad for this, otherwise he might have noticed the hatred burning in my eyes.

As I moved forwards, he stepped down the step and waited patiently as I stopped before him, but a metre away.

 _If only I'm strong enough to kill him now…_

"Closer, 737-A."

 _Oh, how I hate him._

I forced back a grimace as I took another step closer, easily within arm's reach of him.

 _Is he going to hit me? Am I getting punished for something?_

"Look up and open your mouth."

I slowly raised my eyes until I was staring up at the X on his chin, a good spot to focus on. I opened my mouth wide, confused but not daring to speak.

 _What the hell?_

I couldn't quite manage to reign in my flinch when he put his _disgusting, filthy blood-stained_ hand in my mouth and on my tongue.

 _Ew! Who does he think he is, putting his hand down my throat like that?_

My tongue burned slightly and his hand pulled away within moments, luckily before I did anything in panic. Like grab his cane and hit him in the balls with it. Or bite his fingers off. Either option seemed good to me.

"You have now been gifted with the Root curse seal, meaning you may now leave the compound. You are to begin your new mission, mission 8-oh-f, in five days. You will be prepared for it within the next four days.

Your mission is to report on the status of the demon boy and become friendly with him. You have my permission to accept any invitations from him if it will benefit the mission, and you may extend your own.

This is a longstanding mission. Am I understood?"

I blinked.

 _Did he just say what I think he said?_

 _Just give you permission to leave the compound as long as you meet with Naruto? Yes, yes he did._

 _Fuck yea._

I'd likely fall behind on my training though, but hopefully I could deal with it if it came to it.

Plus, most people in Root had their own agendas (though normally not at my skill-level) and since my whole purpose was to befriend Naruto and learn to restrain the kyuubi, I probably wouldn't have to worry too much about other missions and skills in the near future.

(Not that new recruits got hard missions where skills were actually required until they had trained or specialised enough.)

"Understood," I murmured. If Danzo realised I had avoided saying 'Danzo-sama', he didn't comment.

"I expect good results, 737-A. Dismissed."

* * *

 _Song:_ Edge of the Earth (nightcore)

 _By:_ 30 Seconds to Mars

* * *

 **Adventures of the Gang**

 _Pt. 3 Cards (2)_

 _By: Shinda Shikai_

 _Edited by: Dragondancer81_

"You better hope you don't catch his attention," the boy uttered.

Yurei shivered. Kidnappings and human trafficking weren't exactly uncommon in this area, and if that was what the blond haired boy meant…

"A steady hand," the jester man observed as Emi instinctively flicked out the cards in a graceful, seamless manner, shuffling in a matter of seconds. "It seems like you two are quite the veterans, even at such young ages."

Neither responded.

Takeshi discreetly caught Eri's attention, and using the knowledge he had of Akemi's sign language, he signed 'throw the fight'.

Eri nodded, her knee 'accidentally' bumping Emi's knee and quickly signing the message to her under the small, low table.

"So, what are your names?" the man asked casually, watching as Emi spread the cards face-down across the table in a single fluid movement.

"Emiko," Eri replied with only the slightest hesitation. "And this is Akane."

"And your cute little friends behind me?"

Yurei and Takeshi stiffened, the red-haired boy hissing lowly under his breath. The other girl remained expressionless, watching as the game began. Yurei was not happy. This whole situation was turning _badbadbad_ really fast. It was beginning to scare him.

"We don't know them. They're nobodies."

" _Get Junko just in case,_ " Yurei hissed urgently to Takeshi.

She would know what to do. She was the leader, after all.

Takeshi nodded and quickly ran off to find her. He shouldn't take too long, after all the stall was fairly close.

"So where are your parents? Nearby?" The man continued smiling amiably, looking amused as Emi picked a card at random. They weren't sequencing it anymore, after all.

"Our father's just in there," Emi lied, pointing at an adult shop. "He should be out soon."

Yurei fidgeted anxiously.

" _Get the hell out of here!_ " the blond boy whispered furiously. " _He's playing around, that means he's interested!_ "

" _I'm no' leaving them! And what are ya even talkin' 'bout?"_ Yurei whispered back, outraged.

The girl rolled her eyes upon hearing his response, and there was no reply.

Eri's hand trembled ever so slightly as she turned the last card, the one that would ensure their certain loss.

Yurei breathed out ever so slightly in relief.

"Ah damn, I knew I shouldn't have turned that," Eri's voice was high pitched, unable to quite keep the anxiety from her voice.

"Aw, what a shame. And here I was hoping you would demonstrate some of those skills you were utilising earlier… You see, I'm quite the player myself." The man's face split into a wide smile.

Yurei blinked in confusion. He was fairly sure he would have noticed if this man had come to watch at any point. He was hard to miss, after all.

"Ahah…" Emi laughed sheepishly, and hastily grabbed 45 ryo from her pouch.

"Anyway, it seems our _luck_ ran out so here. Thanks for playing!" she shoved money towards the man, radiating impatience for him to leave.

The man pouted.

"How could I take money from poor, hungry kids like yourselves? You know, my home is always open to kiddies in need…"

"Huh?" Emi asked in confusion, withdrawing the money slowly, as if in disbelief.

 _Is this a trick? Is he going to take us away?_

The blond boy made furious slit-throat motions behind the man, directed at Emi.

And then Junko reappeared with Takeshi at her heels, Akemi trailing behind.

"What's going on here?" she demanded immediately, coming to stand aggressively before the man, placing her hands on her hips.

The black-haired girl face-palmed.

"Oh? Are you the go-to, then?" the man asked amusedly. "You're kind of skinny for the leader, aren't you. Then again, all of you are… _scrawny._ "

"Hey!" Emi snapped. "We're not scrawny! We're strong!"

"Shut up, Emi," Junko snapped harshly.

"Damnit!" Eri hissed.

"Emi, not Akane? And to think I placed my faith in you!" The three kids sweat-dropped when their father struck a dramatic pose. "If I can't trust innocent little kiddies anymore, who could I possibly trust?"

Tears streamed down his face.

"Er, is tha' normal?" Takeshi asked the red-haired one.

Yurei stared on impassively, Akemi coming to stand beside him.

 _What a freak._

"Well yea, he's just getting you to drop your guard," the boy replied dismissively. "He quite likes you guys. Anyway, you don't need to worry anymore, I don't think he's planning to take you or anything."

Junko shifted in confusion and discomfort at the crying man before them.

"Just kidding," the man said suddenly, righting himself with a grin, all traces of tears gone. "Well, no need to worry little girl; I was just leaving. Plus, I know first-hand what cunning little brats kids can be, especially red-light kids."

Junko narrowed her eyes, but remained silent.

"I might come and visit sometime, to get a real game out of you!" the man said animatedly to Eri and Emi. And then; "Koichi, Hisoka, Kichiro, we're leaving," and with that the man and the three kids disappeared.

"Wow!" Takeshi gasped excitedly. "Did ya see that? Or like, do yous not se tha'! They _gone!_ "

All the others could do was sigh with relief.

Until Yurei noticed something on the ground, where the man had been standing.

"What's this?" he asked no one in particular, picking up the large, hardcover book. On the front a note was attached.

"It says 'enjoy, use it wisely (:'" Yurei read.

Then he tried to read the title.

'Cards... something and somethin' something," Yurei said helpfully.

Junko took the book from him.

"Cards, Connery and Chakra Strings," she read, before passing the book to Eri and Emi.

"Well, you guys will get the most use from it," she said. "Maybe you guys can read it out to the others if it's useful."

Eri and Emi squealed simultaneously, immediately stashing the book away safely.

"And here I thought there was an emergency or something," Junko said with a sigh. "Now we have to go and remake the stand!"

"They were ninja from another land, it _was_ an emergency," Emi muttered. "He wasn't wearing the Leaf headband, in case you didn't notice. And we ain't seen him before, we know most of the people from these parts and neither he nor the kids are one of them. I bet he was a missing-nin!"

"I'mma bi' scared for Sasayaki," Yurei said quietly. "She's out there all alone with these weally weird people 'vrywhere."

"She'll be fine, Yurei! Sasayaki s'like _pow, bam,_ nyah!" Takeshi began fighting an invisible enemy.

"Yea…" Yurei sighed. He just had that feeling that this wasn't over…

* * *

 **Question:**

 **If you could reincarnate into any Naruto character, who would it be?**


	5. Back in Town

_Song:_ Don't You Worry Child

 _By:_ Swedish House Mafia

* * *

"I don't know, Kakashi… I've heard rumours."

"But it can't be true, Hokage-sama. Has it been verified? Where are the papers? We can't just let-"

The old man held up a hand, cutting him off. He let out a long breath, a cloud of smoke floating from the end of his pipe.

"Danzo is hardly one to inform me of these matters… but he knows not much gets past me. Who knows what he will use the boy for? And you know I cannot intervene. Danzo already has enough leverage as it is. To take one of his members against his will, for no other reason than heritage, might just give the elders enough reason to throw me off the perch."

The silver-haired man closed his eyes, visibly reigning in his emotions.

"You did it for Tenzo."

"It was acceptable, for the chance of the Kyuubi escaping, and put many of my people at rest… I had a viable reason to bring Tenzo under my care."

A long sigh followed the statement.

"I get tired of these games, Kakashi."

The silver-haired man's face was carefully blank as he responded.

"As do I, Hokage-sama."

* * *

"Take off your clothes, 737-A."

In a split second, my blood turned to ice. And it wasn't even totally attributed to the fact that the Root agent in front of me had asked me to strip; no, it was because of who it, or rather _he_ , was.

I couldn't even reassure myself with the fact that he wasn't sentient; because there was no doubt in my mind that he _was._

On top of that, my gender would be revealed. My little secret that brought me no small amount of relief. It wasn't even that important really; not in Root, anyway, since gender meant next to nothing (for most of us, anyway). But for it to be discovered would just be… be…

Shit.

But then, this _was_ a medical examination, and considering it was Root I really shouldn't have expected privacy to be respected. No, they would surely go _all_ the way.

And it just _had_ to be my fucking luck that _he_ was standing before me in the medical room. No one else was present; the door behind me was locked, and frankly all the strange and mysterious medical equipment in the room did nothing to ease my nerves.

Whitish-grey hair was tied up in a ponytail behind a white mask that resembled an ox, as was his Root namesake. Dark eyes stared at me impassively from the eye-holes.

 _Kabuto._

There was no doubt about it. But what was he doing here? What were the chances that _he_ , of every other practicing medical ninja in Root, would be the one to examine me?

Yes, this was just my shitty luck collecting its next round of despair.

My hesitation, however, could only last for so long. I knew I had no choice.

It had to be done.

I wasn't sure if Kabuto was in cahoots with Orochimaru yet, after all he was still very young. He could only be around 13, give or take. Well, as long as I kept my head low, I shouldn't have any problems. I wasn't anyone noticeable, as long as I just acted like a normal, non-sentient 5 year old I'd be perfectly fine.

Kabuto shifted, causing me to jump to action. I had hesitated just a moment too long.

I undressed hurriedly, attempting not to cringe as I removed my underwear. I had to force myself not to clench my teeth.

 _Damnit, this is so demeaning! Guh!_

If he was surprised to see I was a girl, he didn't show it. But then again, he was wearing a mask so I couldn't exactly tell.

"I was under the impression you were a boy… Danzo-sama implied so."

"I'm sorry to disappoint," I said blandly, while sneering inside. "I did not believe it mattered."

"Oh don't worry, it's no problem. I'll keep your little secret safe."

I was confused as to why he was playing along. Surely, as a Root member, he wouldn't keep such a fact from Danzo?

My musings were interrupted as he walked towards me and began to inspect me. I felt extremely exposed as he circled me, having carefully folded and placed my clothes on the patient bed as instructed.

"No need to be so tense. You'd think the emotional conditioning isn't working…"

I held his gaze as blankly as possible as he returned to standing before me, though inwardly I was sweating. What was I meant to say to that, as an emotionless kid?

In the end, I stayed silent.

Finally, he posed his next question.

"Tell me, how old are you?"

"Six," I said in my most deadpan tone. Whether I was five or six, it would be better to say I was six. If I was considered older, I would hopefully be less of a target. Plus, it might make my intelligence more believable.

"And who were your parents?"

"I didn't know them, but my mother was a prostitute and my father was a nameless filth-monger."

Cited by yours truly. Well actually, it was Lady who told me that.

"I see. Well now, I'm just going to take a few measurements, ask a few questions about your medical history. Then I'll take a sample of your blood and chakra. Any questions?"

I shook my head, even though I had a _lot_ of questions. But I didn't think they'd be suitable for such an occasion.

"Good. Let's begin."

* * *

It turned out, the examination wasn't… dare I say it… _that_ bad. After getting used to the fact I was naked in front of Kabuto, it was actually quite… well, not _pleasant_ , but not bad. Kabuto was (acting) kind and relaxed, so it was easy to forget about any embarrassment.

The reason for the medical assessment was not disclosed, so I could only assume it was normal procedure and part of the 'preparing me for my mission' thing. And, you know, 'need to make sure our mindless soldiers won't die' kind of thing.

The day after the medical exam, a day before I was to be released into the village to create mayhem- ahem, befriend Naruto, Feretto came to collect me.

"Follow me, 737-A."

I stood up from my chair, ignoring the eyes of the other kids watching me, and followed Feretto out the door. I followed behind him, gaze fixed on the back of his chin-length grey hair.

 _I wonder what now?_

We walked through several hallways until he stopped at a door with no title.

We entered, and a glance around showed a poorly-lit room with a hole in the wall acting as a counter to our left. The hole revealed what appeared to be a large storage room. The Root member at the counter waited motionlessly as we approached.

"A mask is all." Feretto's voice seemed to echo in the room. The person behind the counter nodded briefly before disappearing behind a large cupboard.

When he walked back out, in his hand he held a single plain white mask. It had tall ears, a black dot for a nose and three straight lines representing eyelashes under each eye-hole.

 _A… rabbit._

Feretto took the mask from the other Root agent who said nothing, instead returning to stand, still as a statue, behind the counter.

"Your name is now 'Usagi', and this mask is to be worn whenever you are present here, which will only be upon the orders of Danzo-sama. Due to the nature of your mission '8-oh-f', you will no longer be permitted to attend training, or associate with Root. The exception to this rule will be your training with Yugi, which will continue to be held outside the compound once a week. Your aptitude for maintaining a sociable exterior has been noted; the parameters of this long-standing mission are within your capabilities."

 _No longer permitted… Danzo-sama requires you… Aptitude…_

 _Long-standing mission._

I paled, breathing suddenly becoming difficult.

I don't think I _quite_ managed to hide my shock.

 _I'm going to be a spy in my own village!_

It all made sense. The mask was a kind of rite-of-passage. Once validated for a mission, you become a true Root agent.

My first mission just happened to be a long-term mission, effectively as a _spy_. I would be watching over Naruto, reporting on him and hoping no one would question why some random kid had become Naruto's bestie.

Which bought me to my next point;

 _Danzo was kicking me out._

Not out of the organisation, of course, but out of the compound.

(No one gets kicked out of the organisation. Ever.)

It did, of course, make logical sense. After all, if someone decided to tail me, I couldn't be seen returning _here_.

But hell, this was _terrible_. I would be back on the _streets_. I wouldn't even get much training, for kami's sake! Hadn't he said I would be training with his other disciples? That was our deal! Sure, I would be getting training with Yugi, but that was all.

 _That two-faced bastard! If I bring that up now, it'll draw attention to the fact I'm insubordinate!_

 _He… he trapped me._

But there wasn't anything I could do.

Feretto began to lead me away, and I trailed after him, placing the mask over my face.

I suppose it felt… kind of nice, to have a mask. If I just ignored the part about it taking my identity away, it was good to have a barrier between myself and Root, even if it was only a flimsy mask meant for a much darker purpose. I wouldn't have to worry so much about my expressions now.

"Some Root agents will periodically check up on you every few months to ensure you are completing the mission successfully; do not expect to notice them. You will only be contacted by Root should Danzo need you for a different matter."

I breathed out harshly, the sound muffled by the mask.

I needed to take a chill pill. I may have landed myself in a dangerous spot, but the fact was I still had my on-way ticket to being on Naruto's team. Assuming, of course, Danzo wasn't lying about that either.

If I just ignored everything, I could just pretend Root didn't exist and start anew. Easy.

"An orphan's fund has been set up for your 'Sasayaki' persona."

I flinched, my chest tightening at the reminder that I was an _orphan._ And the way he said it so casually… it struck a raw nerve.

 _No family. Minority. Outcast._

 _Alright, calm it down. Easy does it..._

"You are now a registered orphan, meaning you will be automatically conscripted to the academy."

 _Conscripted? I suppose it's fitting. The hokage must have imposed that all orphans are to attend the academy, whether they like it or not. Cannon fodder._

My lip curled with distaste.

 _My opinion of you drops by the second, Hiruzen._

* * *

"Naruto! Long-time no see," my smile was slightly painful, the Root emotional training perhaps working on even me.

The response was immediate. "Sasayaki-chan! You came!" Naruto leapt from his stool and jumped up and down in front of me like an excited puppy.

Ayame waved from behind the counter, and I waved back before turning my full attention to Naruto.

Only to find him staring at me strangely, eyes squinting suspiciously.

And then his eyes suddenly widened, his finger raising to point at my hair in awe and confusion.

"Sasayaki-chan! You dyed your hair!" he shouted.

To think so much had changed since the last time I saw him… my hair was just the tip of the iceberg.

I laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Uh, yea, something like that…"

Hey, I wasn't going to tell him my hair was brown from dirt.

I sat down beside his stool and ordered some simple udon noodles.

"By the way, I'm going to the academy! I'll probably be in your class," I revealed.

Naruto sat back down with a sound that sounded vaguely like a happy squeal.

"Awesome! We'll be best friends!"

"Uh, yea! That's right…"

 _Welp, that was quick. Poor kid. Still, I decided long ago I'd devote my life to changing the plot. And since Naruto practically_ is _the plot, well… This will work out well._

Was that mean of me? It did sound kind of bad, that I was only being his friend to change the plot…

 _Eh._

After I ate and paid with the provisional money Root had given me, which was a one-time event and I would have to get money from my orphan's fund from now on, we decided to go on an adventure.

 _Speaking of friends, maybe it's about time I introduce him to the Gang? They probably think I died in the massacre…_

 _Oops, I forgot about them. But I'll talk to them first before introducing Naruto, so I don't have a double shock-factor when I turn up._

"Naruto, why don't you show me your orphanage so we can meet up whenever we want?"

Well, I'd already been there, but he didn't know that and if I told him he would probably think I was some kind of creepy stalker.

 _Well, technically you were stalking him…_

 _Shut up._

"Yea!" he yelled excitedly, and I winced at the volume.

 _Ugh, I'm sure he'd give Lee a run for his money in terms of volume…_

We said goodbye to Ayame and I swiftly followed Naruto as he dashed out onto the streets.

He yelled over his shoulder for me to follow him, pushing past the people on the street despite their anger. And he did it all with a huge smile.

He was so brash and loud, there wasn't a subtle bone in his body despite his circumstances it seemed. He didn't seem to care about all the people glaring at him.

So different to Yurei.

I blinked and shook my head, clearing my mind as I ran after Naruto. We reached his orphanage, just as run-down as I remembered. Instead of going in the entrance like I expected, we instead ended up around the back. It was eerily quiet compared to the front patch of grass where the kids liked to play. But then again, that was probably because the forest stretched out behind the orphanage… Anyway a rope was hanging from the same window I remembered Naruto abseiling down from when I first came here.

"We have to climb up here to get in, because none of the orphans under 12 are actually meant to be outside the orphanage unless with a caretaker… but since none of the caretakers ever want to take me out I just go myself!"

I sweat-dropped at the cheery tone, but grinned none-the-less.

"That's cool! Screw them, right?"

Naruto looked delighted as I sided with him, and he tugged at the rope before carefully beginning to walk up the wall while holding the rope.

"Yea!" he responded cheerily.

 _That looks hard…_

I gulped.

Yugi-sensei had already taught me how to wall-walk in my last lesson, but I didn't yet trust myself to walk up that wall. Plus, I couldn't go around randomly parading my skills, even to someone like Naruto.

Reverse-abseiling it was.

When Naruto got to the top and beckoned me over, I took the rope with pretend bravery.

I took a deep breath and began hauling myself up, digging my relatively new ninja-sandals into the wall whenever I felt my hands weakening around the rope.

 _Easy does it…_

I didn't die. That was a plus. In fact, I got up pretty easily. Naruto shouting encouragements probably helped.

The moment I dropped into Naruto's room, I was struck by how _colourful_ it was. The walls were splattered with paint of every colour possible, random doodles dotting the walls and one whole wall taken up with blue paint saying 'I WILL BE HOKAGE' .

Although first I'll mention the tiny cactus that I knocked off the sill when I climbed through the window. It dropped to the ground with a loud 'thunk' but thankfully it didn't shatter.

I hurriedly picked it up with an apology and replaced it on the sill. Naruto just laughed it off.

"Don't worry, Rozu-kun has been through much worse," he said with a small, soft smile directed at the cactus.

 _Rozu? That's an interesting name for a cactus..._

I laughed at the absurdity of it, but decided not to ask. He seemed to care a lot about the... uh, plant, and it felt weird to intrude by asking questions.

Maybe another time.

"Welcome to Uzumaki Naruto's room, future hokage of Konoha and generally all-around awesome person!" he said with a blinding smile. Though I could hear a note of uncertainty in his voice.

It was pretty big room, but sparsely furnished. There was no wardrobe, only a single set of drawers in one corner of the room with clothes hanging out of every drawer. Shoved into a corner was a tatami mat as his bed, and scattered about the floor were various objects. Paint brushes, open paint tins still half-full, more clothes, cup ramen, an illustrated children's book, and even what appeared to be a collection of mangled kunai and shuriken stuffed not quite out of sight under the tatami mat.

I could barely see a single bit of uncovered floor. 'Messy' was an understatement. Not to mention it didn't exactly smell pleasant… I briefly wondered if he ever washed his clothes often or even himself, for that matter.

"It's really colourful… and roomy…" I said, not quite hiding the awe in my voice.

"Huh? Oh yea, that's because no one wants to share a room with me. Normally the rooms have four people staying, but I'm lucky."

 _Yea, 'lucky'…_

"So are there, like, any kids or caretakers who are nice here?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Uhh…" Naruto uncaringly stepped on his clothes as he made his way to the tatami mat and sat down. "Not really. But I don't care really, 'cause it means I can do whatever I want whenever I want, and I still get a place to stay and sometimes even free meals!" he laughed as if it was nothing.

' _Sometimes' gets meals? Guh, stupid people of this village…_

"I guess…" I trailed off uncomfortably, and quickly changed topics. "Anyway, what's all this paint for?"

Immediately he was on his feet, radiating mischief.

"Pranks! I'm the prank master of Konoha! Well, actually I haven't done anything really awesome so everyone will see me for how awesome I am, but I will one day!"

I knocked my fist onto my palm in realisation.

 _The prank that got him recognition in the anime was the hokage mountain prank! But that was about six years from now, before he graduated…_

Really, those massive stone faces were just begging to be painted. It was really no surprise people like Naruto and Obito chose that as their main target.

 _Hah, imagine Danzo's face if I end up becoming a prankster with Naruto! It's pure genius!_

"Naruto," I said, mouth stretching into a devious smile. "I think you've just found yourself a partner in crime."

 _Konoha won't know what hit it!_

* * *

 _Song:_ Don't You Worry Child

 _By:_ Swedish House Mafia

* * *

 **Adventures of the Gang**

 _Part 4: Loss_

 _By: Shinda-Shikai_

-The morning after the massacre-

Takeshi heard about it first. He was at the southern brothel, about to head out to meet the Gang, when he heard the whispers.

"Oh no, a massacre? really? That's terrible! Do you think they'll come after us next?"

"No, no, don't worry, apparently someone just went on a killing spree. They caught him, so it's no worries. Look on the bright side; at least this means less competition, right?"

Takeshi paused in the entrance, before turning around.

"Massacre?" he asked the two Sisters, who were sitting across from each other at the low table.

They looked up at him.

"Oh, it's nothing to worry about Takeshi-kun. One of the brothels in the area was massacred last night, that's all."

A horrible feeling suddenly washed over him.

 _But no, surely of all the brothels, it wouldn't be theirs?_

"Which one…?" he asked carefully, keeping his breathing even.

"The Mischievous Maidens."

His breath caught, his heart thudded painfully in his chest.

"Wh- what did ya say?" he asked, throat suddenly dry.

The two girls exchanged a look.

"The Mischievous Maidens… Why, what's wrong, Takeshi-kun? Did you-"

The door slammed behind him, and suddenly he was sprinting. It took him only minutes to reach the Mischievous Maidens, because he _had to know, he had to!_

It was closed off. Several people, ninja, perhaps detectives, were standing inside the gate.

There was tape on the entrance. Yellow tape that read 'DANGER KEEP OUT'. There was already a small crowd gathered around, despite the early our.

Takeshi didn't care. He shoved past them and climbed over, despite the crowd that was yelling at him to leave.

One of the ninja noticed him, gesturing briefly to the man with the clipboard he'd been talking to before intercepting Takeshi before he got any closer.

"My friends lived here! _My FRIENDS were here!_ " he yelled. "Where are they? Are there any survivors? TELL ME!"

"Look kid, I'm sorry but there were no survivors. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

The words were like a knife to his heart. He didn't even resist when the man bundled him away and pushed him out of the gate.

He had to tell the others.

He moved, away from the Mischievous Maidens and the curious crowd. He ran through the streets, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled piercingly in a seemingly random manner.

But those of the Gang knew better.

Luckily Takeshi was heard, and someone else, perhaps Akemi who lived nearby, repeated the whistle.

It was a chain reaction as others from the Gang heard it and repeated the message via whistle.

10 minutes later, in that little courtyard behind the bar only accessible by a small alley, the Gang stood in various states of confusion.

"What's going on?" Kiyoshi asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Why did you call a meeting at this ungodly hour, Takeshi?" Eri snapped, Emi slapping her twin for being rude.

Akemi simply watched him, was the only one who seemed to notice how _tired_ Takeshi felt. God, he felt so _faint_ , ready to fall to his knees and pass out.

Didn't they notice the missing members?

"SHUT UP!" Junko roared as the twins began to argue, and Kiyoshi grumbled obscenities to himself.

They all fell silent.

"Takeshi, you called the meeting right? What's going on?" Junko asked in the ensuing silence.

Takeshi looked up from the ground slowly, his eyes dull and his tone bleak.

"They all gone. The Mischievous Maidens was massacred. Yurei 'n Sasayaki are…"

He finally sank to his knees, the final word whispered like a breath of icy-cold wind.

"Dead."

* * *

 **I'm sorry (not sorry) I'm a dramatic bastard XD**

 **Question:**

 **What was the saddest and happiest moment(s) in Naruto in your opinion?**


	6. Restart

Song: Zero

By: Varsity Fanclub

* * *

"I have several candidates to offer him, Ushi, and it is within my power to request the mission and ninja. I expect you to be part of it."

"But to include him… excuse my interruption, but would it not raise suspicions to send an untrained _juvenile,_ Danzo-sama?"

"Do not use such a condescending tone with me, boy. And no, not if Hiruzen is convinced that a child is needed as bait…"

"Are they not all bait, Danzo-sama?"

"Yes, but Hiruzen does not know that, and I intend it to stay that way."

"I shall confer and give my lord the details of the mission, though there's no rush. After all, we have months."

"Good. Dismissed."

* * *

I grimaced slightly.

Here I was, alone, back at the Mischievous Maidens, standing before the gate.

I stared upon my home, lips curving downwards.

I should have expected this. Rumour of the massacre probably spread, leaving the home open to raiding.

Or worse, the intervention of the land owner.

I was not greeted with a house, lights off and dusty from disuse, waiting to be re-inhabited. No…

Through the windows, between the edges of the curtains, light shone through. The brothel, it'd been… sold.

I stood there for several moments, simply watching. My mind was carefully blank.

One thing I did notice, however, was the lack of customers entering and leaving. The gate was closed and locked, the entrance shut.

The brothel was still closed, meaning the new business hadn't yet been set up and/or the building was still being refurnished.

I should have left. I couldn't just waltz in there and demand my home back.

But no, first I had to investigate, to put my mind at rest. To know that whoever was living here now would use the place well.

So I moved around the side, down that small, quiet alley and skilfully climbed the rusty fence, behind which lay the garden of the brothel.

Dropping silently to the ground, I made my way towards the back window.

The curtains were drawn, and the window closed.

In fact, it was eerily quiet inside, considering the lights were on. Maybe everyone was asleep?

Unlikely, after all it wasn't very late.

Suddenly the click of a door alerted me to someone coming outside. That single crack allowed the sound of quiet voices to reach my ears.

 _Ad^ &sg*%yh!_

I knew I should have heard them nearing the door because the place was damn _creaky_ and you can hear every sound coming from inside, which meant the people must have had silencing seals in there!

Which meant…

 _Ninja!_

All this passed through my head in barely a split second, and as the door creaked open wider I dashed, light-footed, for the gap around the side between the building and the fence.

I kept my breathing even, encased in shadows. There was no hitch in the conversation between the two people entering the backyard, so I hadn't been seen.

"-erfect for a future entry-point to Shadows." The voice was deep and no doubt a man's voice.

My blood ran cold.

Shadows was the code name for Root.

"Yea, and I've already personally selected a few female agents to work here. This place was old and run-down before, with few visitors, however if we popularise it, it could potentially make a good information-gathering hub if we open it to the ninja populace…" This time it was a woman's voice.

Slowly, painstakingly slowly, I craned my neck to look around the side.

The two figures were facing the garden, and a glance to the side would reveal my position. I would have to be quick.

I withheld a gasp.

In the dim lighting of the moon, I could make out the unmistakable silhouettes of Anko and Ibiki.

 _Anko Mitarashi._

 _Ibiki Morino._

I quickly withdrew so I was no longer peering around the side, attempting to keep my breathing even.

 _They'll notice me for sure!_

Anko, with a yawn said; "It makes you wonder how many of these shady entry points that old creep has which the hokage doesn't even know about. I mean, Danzo has had us checking out quite a few recently."

"Anko, you know as well as I that the hokage would have no part in these if possible, turning a blind eye instead. The more he knows, the more he puts his reputation in danger. We can't let him know, not unless we're certain Danzo is planning something... And you know the hokage trusts Danzo…"

There was a momentary lull.

"Well anyway, that old bastard will get what's coming to him one day, whether he's planning something or not. For the good of Konoha my arse. The hokage might trust him, but _I_ don't."

Then; "I'm going for dango, why don't you come?"

There was another pause, which for some reason had me holding my breath.

Finally;

"…yes. Let's."

And just like that, they disappeared.

I sagged with relief, nerves fried.

 _Phew… That was too close…_

But what the two had been talking about had me simmering.

 _Danzo_ thought he had the right to just _take_ my home for himself? After killing everyone!

 _Oh, but he just did,_ a dark voice sneered in my head.

My hands clenched so tightly my nails drew blood from my palms.

 _He'll get what's coming for him, that's for sure. And I'll be right there when it happens._

But for now, I had valuable information about one of Danzo's future information hubs and entry points.

But I would think on it later.

First, I had to get the hell out of there and find a new home. But before that I'd call a meeting.

* * *

They were all there, despite the late hour (except Yurei, but I _wouldn't think about him_ ).

Takeshi, Junko, Emi, Eri, Kiyoshi, Akemi. All of them, getting annoyed at each other trying to figure out who had whistled the signal. It was escalating quite quickly.

I hadn't shown myself, not yet. My heart was beating so fast it _hurt._ I knew I had to make my dramatic appearance at some point, before Eri started throwing punches, but…

 _Everything…_

I gulped. I could do this. I _would_ do this.

And just like that, I stepped into the courtyard before hesitation could catch me.

My shoe made a crunching sound as I accidentally stepped on shattered glass. A beer bottle from the bar on the other side of the wall, no doubt.

The sound drew the attention of the six figures, the courtyard going immediately silent as everyone turned to stare. There I was, several metres away from my Gang. My Gang who didn't know…

Six faces, six different expressions. Confusion, surprise, blankness, suspicion, fear, sorrow.

Kiyoshi spoke first.

"Sasayaki's soul has come to guide us… Or to say goodbye one last time…" he murmured, his voice soft and pained.

I blinked.

"A ghost… SHE'S A G-GHOST!" Takeshi screamed, and fell to his knees. "SHE'S COME TA HAUNT US FER OUR FAILINGS! F'R NOT SAVIN' THEM!"

I blanched.

It was absolutely ridiculous, and yet I was too shocked to laugh.

Because those were real tears pouring down Takeshi's cheeks.

"Wait!" I yelled, and ran forwards.

It did not have the desired effect. There was a unanimous scream from all of them and they scattered to different sides of the yard.

So much for an amazing dramatic entrance. This was turning out _badly!_

"I'm not a ghost! I'm not!"

"Yes you _are!_ " Emi yelled.

"You have _white hair,_ meaning you have left the realm of the living!" Eri added.

 _For the love of- Who made_ that _up?_

"No I _washed_ it-"

"You expect us to believe you?" Junko said from the other side of the yard.

It was Akemi who finally saw reason. He began to walk towards me, slowly, carefully, his eyes fixed on my face. I held that gaze, my breath caught in my throat.

(Akemi always had such wise eyes, despite his age. His eyes were a rayless shade of orange, like the darkest sunrise. Depthless.)

"No! You'll invoke the wrath of Sasayaki's lost soul!" Kiyoshi shouted after him.

 _So much for 'guiding them' or 'saying goodbye'._

Akemi didn't even pause, and when he was only a step before me, he reached a hand towards my face.

I stayed still as his hand made contact, touching my cheek. I remained motionless even as his hand moved across my jaw.

Junko stepped forwards, sensing what Akemi could not verbalise. "Welcome back, Sasayaki."

Takeshi's face split with the widest smile, and a scream of joy soon followed.

* * *

I told no truths. The story Root had given me was simple; according to the red-light district's knowledge, a random murderer had come and slaughtered my brothel.

I had escaped, because I had only arrived back from my 'trip' (searching for Naruto's orphanage, that is) and had seen the freshly-killed bodies.

I told them I went into hiding, for fear of being killed myself because I didn't know the murderer had been caught.

I told them I was ok.

"Why don't you come live with the Sisters? I'm sure I could get you a permanent place!" Takeshi said excitedly.

"No," I said immediately. The Sisters had always been the Maidens greatest competition (and sadly, the Sisters normally always had more clients. After all, their facilities were much cleaner, bigger and nicer.)

Plus, I knew it would hurt too much to integrate into a place so much like my old home, and yet not be _right…_

"You can always stay with me…" Kiyoshi offered. "I'm sure I can fit both of you in."

It was that or the streets. I chose that, of course.

"I also made friends with the blond-haired boy everyone talks about," I tacked on as casually as possible.

Jaws dropped. Emi and Eri looked equally horrified.

"The one that's said to have killed babies and shot lasers with his eyes?" Emi hissed. "What were you thinking!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Grow up, Emi! People from outside the district say the same about _us,_ you know it!"

There was a surprised pause, and I let the thought sink in.

"He's the same age as me and Takeshi, and he is just like us. Maybe I'll introduce you guys if you aren't worried."

Akemi snapped his fingers, and all heads turned his way. In the dim lighting of the moon and the stray light from the bar over the wall, I could make out his hand movements.

"I want to meet him," Akemi signed.

Junko always did have too much of a soft spot for Akemi, not that I was complaining.

"Right! We'll let the kid meet us if he wants, end of discussion."

Just like that, it was decided.

Mission accomplished, I allowed myself a smile.

But before I could go and bunk down at Kiyoshi's, maybe with Takeshi too, I had a lot of catching up to do, and midnight was fast approaching.

"So… what'd I miss?"

* * *

As I glanced at the bright, whiskered-boy besides me, I wondered if he often walked around the village alone, trying to ignore the glares, and wondering what he could do when no one wanted to play with him. After all, considering how even the Gang had reacted when I had mentioned him…

 _He's like me,_ I realised, startled. _He's been wronged by the people in this village too, and is all alone._ _Well, not quite. We have each other, and Naruto has Iruka and the ramen stand and the hokage, and I have my Gang._

I paused, digesting this fact, wondering how the Hokage could stand to let these innocent children suffer.

At least he visited Naruto, unlike all of us Root orphans who weren't worthy of his attention and care.

I quickly dismissed the dark thought, running after Naruto who was now a few steps ahead.

The Gang all had the best intentions at heart, especially for other kids like them- like _us_ , but even they hesitated at the idea of meeting Naruto.

 _And if they had a problem with that, I'm not sure how I'm going to bring up the fact I'm going to be a_ ninja. _No street kids trust ninja, and since the academy starts in a couple of days and both Naruto and I will be attending…_

I shuddered, grimly deciding that I should probably introduce Naruto to the Gang _before_ we begin the academy. Then at least the Gang will have less prejudice against him to start off with.

"Hey Sasayaki-chan, we should do some pranks together!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement, swinging around to face me.

"Ok, but not today. We're going to climb the hokage monument together," I replied.

I wondered what Danzo would think when he got reports of me creating havoc with Naruto? The thought made me giggle.

Naruto sent me curious look but then dismissed my weird giggling for excitement.

On the way to the monument, Naruto saw a stall selling ANBU masks and wigs and pointed excitedly.

"Hey let's go look at those!" he grinned and dragged me behind him. For some reason, the stall seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it.

The stall-keeper sent us a wary glance, his eyes resting on me in surprise, but then he went back to ignoring us.

"Look at this one, Sasayaki-chan, I think it's meant to be a cat!" It was a simple mask, with three black lines on each side that thickened in width as they reached the edge of the mask. Naruto reached for the mask, and that's when things started going down-hill.

"Don't touch them, you cretin!" the stall-keeper snarled and violently shoved Naruto outside, where he fell down backwards.

"Hey!" I shrieked.

But I hesitated, wondering if I should bring the village's wrath upon me simply for helping Naruto.

Would it affect my mission? Did it even matter if the village hated me, considering my only 'purpose' (yours truly, Danzo) was to remain Naruto's friend?

Mind made up, I was about to give the man a piece of my mind, but it seemed I hesitated too long. He brutally threw the ANBU mask at Naruto, hitting his forehead, and his head snapped back at the force.

"Keep it, you demon!"

The commotion had caused a crowd, and the civilians glared at Naruto. The look of sheer hurt on Naruto's face as he noticed the glares, and when he turned that look of sadness towards me was what snapped me into action.

I was not proud to say I kicked a civilian in that place, but no regrets, right? The stall-tender deserved it.

He screamed in surprise and pain (to be fair, I would have punched him in the face but I wasn't tall enough, so improvisations had to be made), falling to his knees and clutching, uh, down there.

There were gasps and angry shouts all around, and we made a break for it, and I picked the porcelain mask up on the way out so we didn't go to all that trouble for nothing.

"Never come back!" the stall-tender screamed as we pushed through the crowd, escaping elbowing arms and hands trying to catch our clothes.

Naruto, who was running slightly ahead, looked horrified, but I couldn't help it. Never let it be said that nervous reactions can't be strange. I laughed, a loud, slightly hysterical laugh at the situation we had just caused.

We broke through the dense crowd, and on our way to freedom, and suddenly Naruto was laughing with me, a carefree, bright sound that had us both cracking up even harder as realisation settled in. We continued running towards the Hokage Mountain, adrenaline pumping through our veins.

When we finally got to the top, we fell onto the first hokage's head, giggling and panting.

"I can't believe… you kicked… him there." Naruto managed between gasps.

"Yea, his… face was so… funny." I replied and we snickered at the memory.

We took a few moments to slow our breathing as we stared out over the village.

Naruto's face sobered quickly as he pondered something.

"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to deal with that…" he muttered sadly, his eyes turning dark.

"Naruto, I don't care. You shouldn't have to deal with that on your own." I told him gravely.

It was surreal, how I was saying this to him and yet I barely knew him. Then again, Naruto had that effect on people.

Plus, I knew more about him than he knew about himself.

Wow, that sounded arrogant, but there was no denying the truth in it.

He sent me one of his 1000 watt smiles, the darkness all but disappeared.

"And look, I got the mask!" I said, holding it out to him. He stared down at it in awe.

"All of that for this…" he murmured, and then his eyes flicked up to meet mine.

His hand reaches out and he pushed it back towards me, smiling.

"You keep it, you're the one who put on a kick-ass performance."

For a 5/6 year old, that is an immensely selfless thing to do, and I thought about protesting but when I looked into his eyes, I saw a fierce determination, and a silent apology for what had happened. It didn't belong on such a young face.

I took the mask, accepting an apology he shouldn't have had to give, and beamed at him.

I put it on, touched by his gesture, and turned to stare out at the village through the eyeholes.

"Sasayaki of the Kuro Neko. It looks so cool!" Naruto decided.

"We'll have to get you one too." Suddenly a thought occurred to me and a devilish grin spread across my features. "We could totally do pranks together with masks and wigs and no one would know who we are!" Although, until we could do a henge, our heights would probably give us away.

"Yea! We could become famous pranksters, but the real prank would be that no one would know who we are." Naruto stared off dreamily into the darkening sky.

And so, with this in mind we began planning our upheaval of the peace of Konoha, starting with planning how to steal wigs and a mask for Naruto without anyone noticing (hopefully people would forget that we had taken the cat mask from that stall-keeper, as it would give away who we are, but I guess it didn't really matter. As long as Naruto had fun, no point in being a kill-joy.)

It was when we turned to actual pranks we could do that I realised Naruto was something of a trap genius. It was truly a surprise, to hear first-hand the inner workings of his plans, not just seeing the result on a screen.

I wasn't sure if it was normal for five or six-year olds to understand that, in order for people to not get suspicious of Naruto as one of the new masked pranksters, he had to continue doing pranks without the disguise as usual. Then, he would slowly reduce the amount of pranks he did as normal until he finally stopped until people would think he was over his prankster stage, therefore removing suspicion of him being one of the masked pranksters.

It was also stunning to realise he had mapped escape routes all over the village, and his escapes from ANBU weren't simply luck or them holding back. That's what definitely marked him as a prodigy.

* * *

The birds of the morning twittered and trilled, and Naruto and I were about to commit prankery.

Prankery with Purpose, but prankery none-the-less.

It was also considered theft, but I didn't need to acknowledge that side of it.

The shop we were situated above, in the air vent of the roof of said clothing store. The store wasn't open yet, but it would be opening soon, so we needed to hurry.

"Ok, slowly now…" I instructed as Naruto lifted the shutters to grant us access to the room.

It was a pretty long drop to the ground, so we'd have to be careful. And we both had backpacks on, so that might throw us off balance.

"I'll go first," Naruto whispered, and internally I sighed with relief.

"Be careful," I uttered. He flashed me a quick grin before lowering himself through the hole, until he was hanging in mid-air, then he let go.

He dropped with a quiet thud, seemingly unharmed by the three-metre drop.

Naruto gestured to me, and I threw my bag down to him.

Then I gulped.

My turn.

I followed his example, hanging on to the side of the opening and lowering myself.

I took a breath, resisting the urge to look down.

Then I let go.

The air rushed past me and then-

 _Crash._

I yelped as my shoulder throbbed from where I had landed in a clumsy roll, and my feet had slammed into a nearby rack.

"Sasayaki-chan! Are you ok?" Naruto asked in a hushed voice, dropping beside me with concern.

"Yea… I'm… ok…" I gasped out.

I gingerly got to my feet and I didn't hurt too badly so we continued our mission.

The store was dark, considering it was completely shut, but we could still see around in the dim light.

It was lucky that proper security hadn't been invented yet, and civilian shops rarely had security seals on them, as we've discovered.

We set to work, first gathering the wares we wanted (because Naruto _needed_ better clothes, and I only had the drab, standard Root clothes which basically consisted of grey pants and a grey shirt).

So we had a shopping spree in the silence of the empty room, efficiently taking what we needed and then getting along with the good stuff.

Though something important to note was that I managed to steer Naruto _away_ from the ugly orange clothes. Instead, he ended up with blue shorts and a black t-shirt, so I was happy with that.

I, on the other hand, went for cargo pants and a white singlet. Because cargo pants are good for storing things in, and the singlet would keep me cool in the hot weather of the fire country.

 _Yea, and you'll also burn._

 _Shut up. Singlets are cool! Get it? Cool_ and _cool?_

 _No. No no no._

Anyway, the shopkeeper and patrons would certainly get a shock when they tripped on the trip wire in the entrance, or have paint poured over their head when they accidentally walked into a thin string, or when they see that half the shop has been painted blinding yellow with the writing 'we lighten even the darkest of hearts' in blazing red.

Apparently, Naruto had something against the shopkeeper. Not that I was surprised.

It was almost half an hour later that we were finished, our backpacks considerably lighter from having used our supplies, but also stuffed with stolen clothes.

(Or maybe not so stolen, because this shopkeeper has probably been ripping Naruto off his whole life. We were just making up for that.)

Unfortunately, leaving back through the air-ducts really wasn't an option, so of course we had to take another route.

Smashing the windows was most certainly necessary. And I did not feel the slightest sense of satisfaction when all the alarms in the vicinity went off. Not at all, haha.

 _Oh who am I kidding, that was_ great!

We tried to keep our laughter to a minimum as we fled. It was lucky it was so early; barely anyone was out, and those that noticed us couldn't actually see our faces, because we were wearing hoods, masks reminiscent of Kakashi's and even fat black glasses hiding our eyes.

(Turns out, Naruto wasn't always as outrageously noticeable as people would believe. Once I'd turned him to the dark side, convincing his patriotic heart that theft is _ok_ , he'd revealed quite the stash of clothes that he used for particularly difficult pranks when he _really didn't want to get caught_.)

But, with our, ahem, _shopping_ , we were now very much ready to take on tomorrow.

After all, tomorrow marked the beginning of the academy.

* * *

Song: Zero

By: Varsity Fanclub


	7. That Book

_Song:_ _The Greatest_

 _By:_ _Sia_

* * *

"Come on kiddies, we're going to live in the village hidden in Hot Water."

"But why?" The boy with the dark red hair demanded. "I miss my friends from Kiri!"

"Well, _I_ don't, and since I'm the adult here, I get to make the decisions see?"

"Obviously you don't miss them, since you _killed_ them all," the black haired girl sneered.

"It's not my fault they were all stupid enough to stop me from killing the Mizukage!" the jester man defended.

"Shut up and let's just go. Yugakure is known for its pacifism, and everyone knows what that really means. They accept missing-nin, like Father, so there shouldn't be any problems staying."

"Right on, my darling little Koichi-kun! Plus, I've always wanted to have my own restaurant, and I wouldn't be able to do that if I was always on the move. We'll be able to apply for citizenship! Onwards!"

* * *

I introduced Naruto to the Gang, and boy did they hit it off. Naruto was so excited I swear I could feel vibrations from his pounding heart. He had never had the chance to make _friends_ before (except with me, but for some reason that didn't seem to count for him.)

It was the morning, an hour before the start of the academy, and Naruto was charming them all with his epic tales of prankery, of princesses and dragons, of hokage and justice.

Yea, all that corny stuff that kids soak right up. Funny thing is, despite the fact that us street kids fear ninja, we still revere the hokage. Who couldn't possibly turn down that kindly fatherly demeanour and the power of gods?

Except me, of course.

I suppose that's why, when Naruto brought up his dream of becoming hokage, none of them flinched. Except Junko, whose eyes narrowed slightly, and I didn't miss when they darted towards me questioningly. Ah, she guessed then.

I tried to act innocent. Really, I was _going_ to tell them at some point. Just, I didn't expect _Naruto_ to be the one to blurt it out straight after declaring his goal of becoming hokage.

"We're going to the academy together! It'll be _awesome!_ "

Dead silence reigned. Emi and Eri looked shocked, Kiyoshi actually choked on his own spit, while Akemi only looked thoughtful while Junko was glaring at me.

Takeshi, though…

"Oh jeez tha' sounds awesum! Like, weally cool! If you become hokage, ya can, like, help us 'n stuff! Ooh, ooh, you could teach me what you learn!"

"Takeshi! Listen to yourself!" Junko growled. "Do you remember what ninja have _done_ to us? They're _scoundrels!_ And Sasayaki, I am honestly disappointed in you. You're going behind our backs to become a ninja? How did you even get enrolled, anyway?"

 _Oh crap, I need a distraction, quick!_

Luckily, Naruto kindly provided one for me.

"What?" Naruto asked, looking genuinely confused. "What do you mean? Ninja are heroes! Why _shouldn't_ we become heroes?"

 _Oh great. Now what do I do?_

I cleared my throat.

"Look, um, we've just had some bad experiences with ninja," I explained to Naruto. "Not all ninja are good. But at the same time, not all ninja are _bad_ ," I said, looking specifically at Junko. "Like the founder of our Gang, he was a ninja wasn't he?"

"Yea, but that's beside the point," Junko grumbled, but I could see her resolve was weakening at the mention of our founder.

"The founder?" Naruto enquired, but he was ignored. He wasn't privy to that information, _yet._

"Well anyway, I think this could be a good thing," Kiyoshi put in. "After all, if Sasayaki gets strong enough she'll be able to protect us from the bad ninja. Plus, she'll be a wealth of information…"

Ah yes, Kiyoshi with his grand scheming mind… he would surely be planning things for me already, and probably including Naruto too because his reputation as the 'demon child' could be rather useful if handled right. No doubt he would talk with Junko later about this, not that I had anything against it if it raised Naruto's chances of being accepted.

Junko seemed to be realising the same thing, if the way she was exchanging glances with Kiyoshi was any indication.

"We'll be talking about this later, Sasayaki," Junko added icily. I winced. Emi and Eri sent me sympathetic glances.

"But for now, you better go. We still have our jobs to do, right Gang?" nods all around. "You two, scram, you have the academy to attend."

I internally sighed with relief. At least she was letting me go to the academy.

Junko took Akemi's hand.

"Alright everyone, get those arses moving!"

* * *

Iruka, I was surprised to find out, would be our teacher for the duration of our time at the academy. Naruto had already had him two years in a row, and although they hadn't bonded enough to go to the ramen stand together, there was obvious warmth in his eyes when he spotted Naruto. So kudos to him.

I suppose it was lucky Naruto was my age. Normally he would be two years above us, since he'd been coming to the academy for two years already, but apparently Iruka thought he should give him a fresh start and put him back with our year, i.e. his own age group. Or maybe Naruto had just skipped so much that he may as well not have been going to the academy for the last two years.

Yea. That was probably it.

Anyway, the first day at the academy was a rather exciting affair. I was giggling and staring around at my to-be teammates. Gods above, we were gonna rule the world together! I cackled inwardly.

 _Such potential…_

Wait that was starting to sound a bit weird… I should really stop my thought processes there.

 _Eh… it's true! We'll be awesome kick-ass ninja and the world will bow to us!_

This time I couldn't quite stop my evil chuckle and a few of the kids shot me weird glances.

We had chosen our seats in Iruka's classrooms, the parents of the kids having said their last goodbyes (that sounded morbid) at the academy entrance, so many of the kids were on edge, as well as being excited.

I thought I could even hear a girl crying behind me. It was probably her first day away from mummy.

 _Dumb brat._

I could spot the rookie nine, and just seeing them made me want to squeal. Ok, yes I was totally biased towards them, but damn they were just so cute at this age.

Not like Naruto cute, but pretty close.

Unfortunately, they hadn't ended up sitting near us. I suppose it was no surprise Shikamaru and Chouji had ended up sitting together since their parents had probably already introduced them. Ino was sitting in the row in front of them, next to her being another girl I didn't recognise (I think her name was Ami?). The other rookies had ended up separated as well, all in different parts of the room sitting with unimportant- I mean random characters- er, people.

 _Yea, I should stop seeing them as fictional shouldn't I?_

Another thing to note was that none of the kids seemed to have yet realised that Naruto is the 'demon child', thus some kid actually sat next to Naruto! I knew it wouldn't last though. The desks of three, auditorium style, meant that it was likely _someone_ would sit next to us, but still. Naruto totally went into a state of shock.

I couldn't remember the kid's name, but he seemed the timid sort. He had a brown bowl cut and glasses. That bowl cut really wasn't doing him any favours, let me tell you, but I could overlook that since he smiled at Naruto and me, though Iruka started calling the roll before he could talk to us.

"Alright class, welcome to your first day at the academy! Now that I've called the roll, we'll get straight into work…"

Wow, that was quick. Really, straight into work? We're only six you know.

Then again, we were training to become ninja. It was probably expected that we somehow grew a work ethic within minutes (not to say that didn't happen to some people apparently, case in point Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake. But they really weren't a representation of the general population).

The rest of the day went pretty much as expected (except for the book). At recess and lunch, the kids began forming their friend groups and changing their places. Bowl-cut kid ended up abandoning us and moving next to Shino after recess, so I figured some of the older kids must have already started whispering rumours about Naruto.

I had to admit, I _really_ wanted to talk to the rookie nine, especially Sasuke because if you could have seen him then, you would never have guessed the person he would turn into.

He was actually _smiling_! I could see him having a fine old time talking with Shikamaru and Chouji at recess.

Us, on the other hand…

Well, we had claimed our spot under the tree with the swing. No one bothered us.

"Hey Naruto, what's that book you've got?" I asked when I noticed him pull it out at lunch and inspect it.

"Eh? Oh, I found it on my doorstep this morning. I don't like reading though, I think I'll just give it away."

I accepted it when he handed it over, studying the cover with surprise.

 _What on earth..?_

It was titled 'A Guide to Level One Fuuinjutsu for Aspiring Masters of the Trade'.

Firstly, _why the hell did this have such a long title?_

The question was answered when I read the author.

By Minato Namikaze.

I froze, a breath leaving me in something more of a confused wheeze.

For a moment, I thought I'd lost my rocker. How in the _world_ did this just _happen_ to appear on Naruto's doorstep this morning?

"BULLSHIT!"

Naruto jumped slightly, startled.

"What?" he gasped. "What is it?"

I ignored him though.

 _So you're telling me… in the anime he was given this by some random stranger, probably the hokage, this_ gem _and he threw it away because he didn't like reading?_

I eyed Naruto suspiciously.

There was clearly only one solution to this.

 _Everyone knows fuuinjutsu is the strongest, the best jutsu out there! It can do practically anything!_

"I'm keeping it! Who could turn down a book written by the fourth hokage?" I declared. "I'll become a master of fuuinjutsu! This was obviously meant to happen. It's a sign!"

Naruto stared at me like I was crazy.

"Sasa-chan, you're being weird again," he pointed out.

 _What does he mean 'again'?_

But then his eyes landed back on the book.

"Wait, was that _really_ written by the _fourth hokage?_ " Naruto demanded, slack-jawed.

"Yea!" I confirmed enthusiastically. "He was like, one of the strongest ninja and now-"

I yelped when I was suddenly bowled over, Naruto ripping the book from my grip.

"I'm taking this back! Haha, as if I would throw this out!"

"Naruto! Get back here, that book is mine!" I yelled, and tore off after him.

He laughed as he waved the book in the air gloatingly, dodging my attempts to tackle him in the academy yard. Other kids turned to stare and point.

"Troublesome…" I heard one particular boy mumble, though despite his comment his eyes were trained sharply on me.

* * *

"So… no one wanted to be our friends at the academy, not even on the first day…"

"It doesn't matter. We have more important things to worry about. Are you ready?"

"Yep! We need wigs too."

"I'll get the long, spiky black one. Which one do you want?"

"The orange one. The really spiky orange one."

"Mask?"

"Well, foxes are orange, so the fox one obviously."

"…Really. I should have known. As long as you don't start wearing orange jumpsuits too."

"Where did that come from?"

"Oh, nowhere..."

"Though now that I think about it… An orange jumpsuit would be awesome! It would totally bring-"

"FORGET I SAID ANYTHING! Commence the prank _right now!_ "

"HAI MASTER!"

-2 fireworks, 7 paintballs later-

"YES! We got them! We _got them_!" Naruto yelled with delight, as we ran away from the screaming stall-tender.

Really, he had it coming. That kick in the balls I had gifted him with the other day hadn't been enough.

In my arms, I had a fox mask and two wigs.

Now we would truly be able to begin our prankster reign.

* * *

"Hey, Kiyoshi? Takeshi?" I asked into the silent room. It was dark, and I was lying on a thin tatami mat beside the bed that Takeshi and Kiyoshi were sharing.

It was Kiyoshi's home. I would be spending my nights there until further notice.

"Yea, Sasayaki?" came the tired response from Takeshi.

"I'll be away tomorrow, I have, uh, this special training thing with… a teacher…"

Well technically Yugi-sensei counted as a teacher. She just wasn't a teacher from the _academy._

I didn't know how I was going to explain this to Naruto.

 _It's simple, just don't tell him. You don't have to tell him everything, after all._

 _True. If he asks, I'll just tell him I needed a day off._

 _On the second day of the academy? Plus, you're going to need an excuse every week._

 _Yea, well, whatever. I'll figure it out._

Takeshi spoke first.

"Sure. Just remember you gotta teach me everything you learn from the academy!"

"Eh?"

I didn't remember signing up to do _that_.

"And while you're at it, you may as well teach the rest of us," Kiyoshi yawned. "I spoke with the rest of the Gang, and we all decided we want to learn some ninja tricks from you."

… _Oh._

Well, that was unexpected. At least it would be good practice for me, and maybe Naruto if he wanted to help too.

"Alright, sounds like a plan."

* * *

 _Song:_ _The Greatest_

 _By:_ _Sia_

* * *

 **Question:**

 **What Harry Potter house do you think Sasayaki would be from?**


	8. Genius Blond

_Song:_ _Won't Give Up_

 _By:_ _Manafest_

* * *

"Do you really think it'll be useful to have that… _demon_ in our Gang?"

"Sure it will. Look, we've all heard the whispers, but I know the real story. It's what contacts are for, after all. He will be powerful; I think it's time we started thinking ahead."

There was a pause.

"…Ok, I'll think about it."

"Just remember, if we want to get out of the gutter, the only way for us is power. And with Sasayaki and Naruto in the academy, we're finally going to get a chance to learn the real stuff."

"Yea, I know. When they get old enough, and when the rest of us are strong enough, we're going to get out of this village for good."

* * *

I smirked.

 _That was_ so _good! I'm a genius!_

I had just created two two-metre chains, one from each hand.

"Not bad," Yugi-sensei drawled.

 _Hah, that was better than 'not bad', it was AWESOME!_

"We're going to need you to start practicing circulating chakra through the chains, however since this style only works on tailed beasts, there is no way to do that. However, it helps if you practice feeling the flow of your own chakra. Meditating twice a day, in the morning and night for an hour will help."

I sweat-dropped.

 _Really? Meditating?_

 _Great. Just great,_ I groused silently. Then again, what was I complaining for? I was on the path to _power!_ I should have been jumping at the chance to, uh, meditate.

 _Yea but…_

 _Meditation._

"Alright, brat. The last thing for today; Danzo-sama has a mission for you. Report to Farukon later this afternoon."

The blood drained from my face, and I swallowed. Lucky I was wearing my mask.

"H-hai…" I muttered.

"Good luck, brat," and with that Yugi-sensei teleported away.

* * *

"Where _were_ you?" Naruto demanded the moment I got back from training, some seven hours later. "You left me alone on the second day of the academy! I ended up skipping after recess, it stank!"

I had found him tossing rocks off the top of the Hokage Mountain. A gentle breeze was blowing, ruffling the hair of myself and the person in question.

I had expected he'd be up here, after I had failed to find him at his orphanage or at Ichiraku's. Beside him sat the sealing book, 'A Guide to Level One Fuuinjutsu for Aspiring Masters of the Trade'. It lay open at page 22.

Naruto looked angry when he turned to me. Actually, he looked more hurt than angry. I felt my heart tighten with guilt.

 _I'll be… sort of truthful, like I was with Kiyoshi and Takeshi…_

"Well… See, I have this personal trainer lady that, uh, teaches me stuff and… yea…"

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise and confusion.

"What kind of stuff?"

 _Oh crap!_

"Um, just… stuff…" I trailed off lamely. Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

 _Damn it, I have to tell him_ something!

Clearly, I couldn't tell him about my chain style since it was forbidden and I didn't really want him knowing I was learning to repress bijuu… but…

"I'm learning to create chains!" I exclaimed. "Look!"

I focussed my chakra and formed a chain.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Naruto actually _squealed_ , the anger and hurt all but disappeared in an instant _._ "Can I learn?"

"Sorry, it's kind of… special for me…" I mumbled lamely. Well, considering it was a forbidden technique only the hokage and Danzo had the right to assign to a select few, technically it was true. "Plus, all I can do right now is that. I've been using CC chains up until now, to get used to channelling chakra through chains so I can actually move them. I only recently managed to make my own chains."

"CC chains?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh, that's short for 'chakra-conductive chains'. They're like ninja-wire, except chains instead. They're not very common, but you can find them in some ninja shops around Konoha," I explained.

Naruto's face slackened, his gaze becoming unfocussed as he stared at something over my shoulder.

I frowned in confusion, turning around to see what he was looking at. But there was nothing out of the ordinary, only the view of the village.

"Uh, Naru?" I asked hesitantly, waving my hand in front of his face.

He suddenly blinked, snapping out of whatever it was.

"With a bigger surface area than wire… a simple storage seal will fit… meaning…"

I remained silent as he looked at me.

"Poison gas," he whispered, eyes widening. "Maybe even explosives… the possibilities…"

 _Poison gas? Explosives? What?_

"Or better yet…"

Then his eyes, unerringly sharp, landed on his book.

"The Fourth Hokage… log!"

 _Log!?_

Naruto gasped, and I watched in confusion as he snatched his book from the ground and hurried away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" I yelled after him.

"Nowhere!" he yelled back gleefully, before disappearing down the path that lead back to the village. "But I'll be back tomorrow to train with you! We'll learn the substitution jutsu together!"

I shrugged to myself.

… _weirdo. He never trains!_

Anyway, it worked for me because I had to report in for my mission.

* * *

"Ushi, Usagi," Farukon acknowledged.

I tried not to fidget or glare, knowing that Kabuto stood less than a metre from me. Farukon observed the two of us from behind his desk.

"Danzo has requested that you complete a mission," Farukon said in his usual monotone. "The mission will take place in two weeks from now. You will be expected to team up with the Anbu team, Team Ro, headed by Kakashi Hatake."

My breath caught.

I was going to meet Kakashi.

I was going to meet _Kakashi!_

Holy crap, I was so friggin' excited! Although my excitement was cut short with Farukon's next words; "The objective of the mission is to investigate a sighting of missing-nin Orochimaru in a small village."

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze in time as I processed this bit of info.

 _I am a six year old with barely any training, I have never even left this village before let alone had any fighting experience._

Clearly, there had to be a mistake.

"Farukon, excuse my interruption however I do not believe I-"

"I did not give you permission to interrupt, Usagi," Farukon reprimanded and I shut my mouth, hoping the confusion wasn't showing behind my mask.

Well, this was even worse than I was expecting, and that was saying something.

 _And why Kabuto? Did he manage to worm his way into this mission, or does Danzo know he corresponds with Orochimaru and deliberately put him on this mission? Or coincidence?_

I felt sick. If I came into contact with Orochimaru, who knew _what_ would happen? I could be _killed_ , and that would be the end of my plans to save the universe. Just great.

"The rest of your instruction will be given by your team. You will be required to wear your Root gear which corresponds to that of the ANBU, along with your masks. Usagi, you do not have your mission gear and will be fitted after this meeting. Ushi, you are dismissed."

* * *

"So, why the sudden urge to study the substitution?" I asked as Naruto tried and failed to substitute with the log across from us. We were in the academy grounds, borrowing the training area after school hours. Not that we'd actually _gone_ to the academy today. Or the day before. Pranks were much more important, and helping the Gang.

The academy, I'd realised after only a few days, was useless. Naruto and I were clearly too smart to be forced to learn at the rate of average six-year olds.

(I carefully didn't think about the fact Naruto had been failing. Pfft, details.)

No one missed us. Except Iruka, but he didn't really count.

"Just… because…" Naruto said through gritted teeth as he attempted to focus his chakra, hands clasped together in front of him to help focus his chakra.

It was day four already of practicing the substitution jutsu. I'd managed to grasp the concept in two days, and had managed to perform it on the third day. I found it really easy actually. I was pretty sure I'd be able to do it only one-handed within the week, perhaps even no-handed like the actual ninja.

Naruto, however…

I knew he had been practicing every night since we'd started trying to learn, yet he'd only managed it once.

 _It must be because he has too much chakra, that's normally the explanation._

"Maybe you should-"

 _Poof._

I blinked as suddenly a log took the place of where he had been standing.

Well, I suppose there was still hope. He normally managed these things through sheer hard work and practice, case in point rasengan and wall-walking. It was probably just taking a little longer than usual because he was only six, after all.

Naruto cheered after getting over his initial surprise.

"I'll have this down in no time, dattebayo!"

* * *

"Hey Sasayaki?"

"Yea, Kiyoshi?"

"Not that I'm being nosy or anything, but what are those weird clothes and mask you have stashed at the back of my cupboard?"

I froze, eyes wide as I stared at the opposite wall in the darkness of night. I shifted under my covers, hoping Kiyoshi and Takeshi couldn't sense my unease.

 _He's talking about my Root gear… Damnit, I hid that well! How did he find it?_

Well, I _thought_ it had been well hidden. Maybe stuffing into the furthest corner of an empty cupboard wasn't good enough.

I stayed silent for several moments, trying to figure out an answer.

"…No, don't bother explaining. I know what they are," Kiyoshi finally broke the tense silence, voice sounding dull but with a hint of… _something._

 _He… knows?_

Then again, Kiyoshi always seemed to know. I guess that happens when you are a paid informant, because I was almost 100% sure that Kiyoshi was corresponding with a few… questionable sources. He might even be a spy for outsiders. I knew he sourced some unsavoury things to a few people, but there was more going on than that I was sure.

 _Poor kid, I wonder how he got into this mess? Then again, all of us Gang do whatever we can for food and money… If an opportunity like that came up, would even I have resisted?_

But the question was, how much _did_ he know? Did he know about Root, or did he think I had somehow been chosen for ANBU? After all, the uniform is basically the same, except the Root masks are always plain white.

"What is it?" Takeshi asked, voice thick with sleep.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Kiyoshi murmured, wrapping his arms around the blue-haired boy and pressing his lips to the back of his head. Takeshi mumbled something incoherent and relaxed into his arms.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the low ceiling.

 _Oh joy._

I could only hope Kiyoshi wasn't planning on using this information. I trusted him though, he wouldn't betray one of the Gang (would he?).

And he must know that sometimes, there are things we just can't explain, for the safety of others and ourselves. He himself was a prime example.

I raised my hand before my face, staring at the silhouette.

 _I guess we're both in the same boat…_

* * *

"What's this?" I asked Naruto, not believing my eyes. We were at the ramen stand, he'd invited me for lunch. Our meals lay before us, forgotten.

He went a bit red, but still he held out the two metal objects out to me.

They were about three metres in length, chinking together from the movement.

"They're, um, I had this awesome idea and… you said you use chains, so I figured if I could engrave a storage seal onto the end, because they are chakra conductive you should be able to activate it with chakra," Naruto explained in a rush.

 _Engrave a storage seal? He's advancing so quickly with fuuinjutsu! What on earth?_

For a moment though, what he was trying to say didn't click. I simply stared at him, mouth agape, completely bewildered.

And then it hit me.

 _Log… The Fourth hokage…_

 _Or possible explosives and poison gas…_

My mouth snapped shut.

"Happy birthday?" Naruto offered, staring at my expression uneasily.

My mouth curled into a smile. I didn't even know my birthday and Root didn't assign me one, so today was as good a day as any.

February the eighth.

"Naruto," I said gravely, feeling faint "you're a genius."

He broke into a massive smile. "Dattebayo!"

"OI! Those meals are going cold! We put effort into them, so eat up!" Ayame interrupted from behind the counter, cutting our conversation short.

We both obediently dug in, though it was a bit hard to eat while smiling so hard.

But I managed.

* * *

"You gotta try and stick it to your forehead," I explained, Naruto stood beside me as we demonstrated the 'stick the leaf to your head' technique Iruka had shown the class. We'd decided to start them off with something simple, and this was basically the most basic of the most basic, focussing on chakra control.

Takeshi's mouth pursed with concentration as he held the leaf to his head, Emi and Eri similarly attempting it.

Akemi was not participating. It was unfortunate, but we all knew he would never have the capability to be a true ninja. Not as a mute. He wouldn't be able to say jutsu names, which were essential when learning jutsu. It was possible to do jutsu without saying the name, but it was extremely difficult without first learning by speaking it.

On top of that, Akemi had always had a frail body and poor eyesight.

Akemi didn't make a fuss. He simply sat to the side and prepared flyers for the next day.

Junko and Kiyoshi were also participating. As the eldest, they seemed to be grasping it slightly better than the other three, but no one had yet managed to twirl the leaves on their head, though Junko had managed to make it stick for over five seconds.

I needed to speak to Kiyoshi though.

I grabbed him by the arm and took him away from the 'class'.

"Kiyoshi, I uh, I need some help," I admitted uncomfortably, fiddling with the CC chains I had tucked up my long-sleeved white shirt, out of sight.

He eyed me curiously, flicking his brown hair out of his eyes which was slightly damp with sweat from practicing.

"Yea? What is it?"

"Well, you found out about… my mask and stuff… and I need to do something for the, uh organisation," I was trying to be as vague as possible, so as not to give anything away in case he didn't know.

Kiyoshi's eyes narrowed.

"Ok… What, exactly?"

"Well, I just need you to make up an excuse for me. I'm going to be away for a little while in a couple of days, can you help me come up with something?"

Kiyoshi nodded slowly.

"I can. I'll tell everyone I asked you to complete an errand for a 'friend' of mine, something you were best suited for. We'll tell everyone tomorrow, then you can go. Sound good?"

"Yea…" I nodded weakly, suddenly the reality hitting me like a ton of bricks.

I could be seeing _Orochimaru. The_ Orochimaru. Pedo-murderer-vampire-mad scientist-genius-sannin.

My breath became shallow.

"Sasayaki!" Kiyoshi interrupted, eyes flashing. "You need to calm down. Just do your best."

 _And hope not to die._

Kiyoshi turned to return to the others, who were giving us weird stares.

He paused, turned and ruffled my hair.

"You'll be fine. You have a good head on those shoulders, so don't lose your composure like that. It won't do you any good. And… whatever happens, just stay safe."

Then he was gone, back to the group and acting like nothing had happened.

I rubbed my head, feeling the last of the warmth of his hand fade away.

I sighed.

* * *

 _Song:_ _Won't Give Up_

 _By:_ _Manafest_

* * *

 **Question:**

 **If you could ask Sasayaki anything at this point, what would it be?**


	9. Bad Flirts

Song: Let you Down

By: NF

* * *

"Sightings of Orochimaru in the southern sector have emerged," a voice droned. "As a unit, you will attempt to infiltrate his recently located lab, where he is currently located in the small Hidden Valleys village. A prompt assassination of missing-nin Orochimaru is advised, however failing this a comprehensive removal of the target from the location, preferably with the lab intact for further scrutiny…"

I blanked out, my eyes instead darting to the three ANBU members to my right.

It was like all my dreams were being realised at once. Kakashi, Itachi, Yamato and Yugao all stood to attention, faces hidden behind masks but recognisable none-the-less.

On the other hand, to my left stood one Yakushi Kabuto, also firmly at attention but his mere presence had me swallowing soundly. After all, this mission was meant to be an assassination of his master, Orochimaru. Except no one knew he was allied with Orochimaru. Except maybe Danzo, but, well, that didn't help my case any.

I must admit, this whole situation was reminiscent of a cliché prelude to my death. Here I was, meeting my idols for the first time, only to be killed on the first mission I go on.

Now I just need some sad orchestral to follow me to my doom.

I tried not to sulk as I listened to the rest of the ANBU officer's briefing.

It took a while, but in the end all his big words and detailed explanations came down to this:

We would find Orochimaru, and we would try to kill him.

And if I read the signs right, both Itachi and I were, for want of a better word, bait.

 _Bait._

* * *

"We will travel for three days south-west towards where reports indicate Orochimaru's hidden base is located, in the Land of Rivers in the Hidden Valleys village. Usagi, you are to be carried by me as you're untrained."

I burned bright in humiliation at his words. Gah, Kakashi was going to carry me on his _back_? Preposterous! The awesomeness of meeting my idols was quickly fading away to be replaced by my reality.

Kakashi let me climb onto his back and then we were moving.

It was a bright day today. As I watched the trees rush past, our group of six shot through the trees at speeds my old life would have deemed impossible by human standards.

We did not speak; we were a professional squadron, despite the youth of Kabuto, Itachi and myself. But unlike them, I was no powerhouse. I was not trained for this, I was not _ready._

 _So why?_

I shook my head to clear it. There was no point thinking about it now. I closed my eyes and rested my head on Kakashi's shoulder. It would be at least five hours until we arrive at the Hidden Valley's village.

* * *

I awoke to a stinging head, the hand that had committed the crime withdrawing as I awakened.

Of course it belonged to none other than Kabuto.

"Usagi, time for a briefing," he said blankly, voice muffled behind his mask.

I sighed and looked around to find I had been placed on the ground in a small clearing, in a circle with the other five. I sat up slowly, stifling a yawn. It was evening by now, the sky painted purple and yellow as the sun retreated behind the horizon.

Kakashi began drawing in the dirt with a stick. "So, the idea is that…"

By the end of the lecture, I couldn't help but be relieved.

I was assigned lookout in a café. Apparently the lab had somehow been built _directly under_ a section of the village. Kabuto hadn't been happy when Kakashi had decided to place me as lookout in the café of which the entrance to the lab was situated in, apparently hidden in one of the back rooms.

I knew he wasn't happy because, despite his dead tone, he had questioned Kakashi's logic given the nature of my not-so-well concealed position as bait. After all, I would be useless if I was away from the action, but Kakashi had remained firm and as leader, Kabuto had to stand down.

The others, well, they had the dangerous, shitty job of actually executing the execution.

Fine by me. They'd lived through it once (assuming it had been off-screen in the anime), and they would do so again. The fact that I was away from the action would increase the chances of their survival, after all who knew what would change if I was part of the action.

And then, we moved out.

* * *

The café was nice. It was small and quiet, I would even go so far as to say it felt homely. The problem, of course, being that this was a complete façade. The people working here were most definitely Orochimaru's lackeys, despite the fact they looked anything but. A teenager who looked extremely bored manned the counter. He had plain features and long brown hair tied up in a bun and equally dull brown eyes. Kenji, his nametag read.

'How can I help you?' he asked, perking up as Kakashi, Yugao, Kabuto, Tenzo and Itachi walked over, all in their respective henge's, as was I. I appeared to be a young man with sharp features and sleek black hair, in a flattering suit. I figured the manlier and posher I looked, the less likely anyone would be to bother me.

I hurried off as they gave the secret words to be given access to the back room (provided by who, I wouldn't know, but somehow the Hokage had found out), appearing to be separate from them simply as a precaution.

I went to sit at the seat beside the window. It was a small two-seater table, so I wouldn't feel guilty about taking up too much room in the restaurant. Not that I should be guilty, but it was just habit.

Despite the fact I wasn't the one in danger, I still felt nervous as I watched all of them disappear into the back room.

I shook my head, whispers in the back of my mind urging me to follow and make sure everything would be ok.

I shook my head in annoyance. Gah! No, nope I would not put myself in danger like that.

Minutes ticked by. I stared out the window, watching the people passing by on the street outside, my mind wandering. How long would they take? Would they _really_ be ok, especially with Kabuto in their midst? Should I go after?

I swallowed.

I watched blandly as a couple made out in front of a clothing store.

Ugh. Love.

'What would you like today, sir?'

I was startled out of my reverie as I turned to the young waitress before me, she could only be seventeen. She smiled and twirled her pen in her hair as she waited for me.

Oops, I hadn't even thought to look in the menu.

'Uh- ahem, a… green tea, please,' I uttered in a deep manly voice, quickly recovering.

'Will that be all?'

I nodded as she scribbled down my order, and was about to go back to people watching when she spoke again.

'Are you waiting for someone?' she asked huskily, leaning on the table to talk.

Well, that wasn't weird at all.

'Yes,' I decided on saying. I mean, technically it wasn't a _lie_ , I was waiting for anyone suspicious to pass by, or the others to return back.

She looked disappointed. I ignored her, turning back to the window as she walked off.

Barely a minute passed when I noticed something outside.

A man tripped over, causing the woman walking in front to subsequently be shoved to the ground as well. I laughed at the scene, watching the man apologise profusely and the woman to yell angrily at him. Neither seemed hurt.

'Well, isn't that a sight,' a smooth voice suddenly sounded behind me, catching me mid-giggle, and I startled once more as a beautiful woman slid into the chair across from me. She had dark brown eyes and wavy, silky black hair that reached her hips. She placed her handbag delicately on the floor before turning her full attention to me with a smile, large red lips stretched wide.

Suspicious, certainly. Or was it a coincidence, and this lady just wanted company? No, I would have to treat this as a hostile ninja.

A thought suddenly hit me.

I didn't have any money, how was I meant to pay for my tea?

I had to get out of here.

'Oh shit,' I suddenly announced, momentarily forgetting the woman. Should I walk out right now, before the tea arrives? No, then I would be abandoning my post.

I needed another way…

 _You could get the woman to pay._

No, but I was the man, the men are traditionally meant to pay for drinks on the first date! Wait, was this even a date? What if I actually had a date coming that she didn't know about, and yet she just took the hypothetical date's seat? Was that socially right, or normal? WHAT WAS HAPPENING! I didn't know social conduct for this kind of thing!

'Is something the matter?' the woman asked innocently, and I realised I'd been staring vacantly at her for a minute now as I pondered my conundrum.

'What? Oh, no, nothing… anyway, are we like, on a date right now?' I questioned, staring at her. This could be good. She could be a cover for me! Yes! Then I would somehow manage to make her pay for my tea.

She brought up a perfectly manicured hand to cover her mouth as she smiled. 'I suppose so,' she said airily, eyes dancing with amusement.

I grinned wide. Perfect. Now I just had to charm her.

'Cool! This is great, because you're so pretty and oh my gosh what salon do you go to?'

Wait that sounded distinctly girly didn't it? Oops, I was mixing up my training now. Great.

'Nice to meet you too,' she chuckled, and I shrank a little at the mocking undertones, flushing red. 'My name is Hazuki, and you are…?'

My brain shut down for a second as I tried to generate a random name.

'Kaneki!' I suddenly blurted, and Hazuki's eyes widened at my strange outburst

Luckily, before she could question my loud exclamation, the waitress returned. She eyed Hazuki icily as she placed the teapot on the table, placing two porcelain teacups in front of us.

'Anything more, sir?' the waitress asked, her eyelids fluttering.

'Are you ok? Do you have something in your eyes?' I asked.

There was a tense pause, the waitress going beetroot red, before she stormed off.

I watched in confusion, but my attention returned to Hazuki as she laughed, throwing her head back. I stared at her until her fits of laughter faded.

'What?' I demanded. She was laughing at me, I was sure of it.

She waved me off, even as I continued to stare at her, bewildered.

'Oh nothing, nothing at all…'

She probably wasn't suspicious. She hadn't tried anything yet nor had she gone into the back room. On top of that, I had no idea how to tell if she was a threat otherwise simply from observing, so I tried the only thing that I knew that could possibly give me an indication.

I leaned forwards over the table and squinted at her, studying her face.

'Are you… a spy?' I asked in a hushed whisper. There was nothing, not even a flicker of emotion aside from plain curiosity.

'My, whatever would give you that impression?' she asked, not at all appearing worried as I moved my face mere inches from hers, staring into those dark brown eyes. In fact, she looked nothing if not amused.

I huffed and sat back, contemplating for a moment.

This was too weird. I had to relocate somewhere nearby, and leave the bill to her. It's not like I'd drunk any tea anyway.

'Well, it was a nice first date,' I said solemnly as I rose to my feet. 'But I am an important person who has… business to attend.'

I began to walk towards the exit, but her next words stopped me in my tracks.

'You know… it's not very nice to leave a lady with a bill.'

 _Shit._

I laughed nervously, turning back to face her.

There was only one way to handle this.

'You're ugly. I lied. I don't like you, our first date was really lame and you remind me of a horse.'

They were all lies I pulled out of my arse, but it was the best way to ensure she wouldn't rope me into paying.

I turned before I could see her expression and hurried for the exit only to once again find myself stopped in my tracks.

'You should be careful about your next move, you just don't know who you might offend,' she said quietly, but loud enough for me to hear.

I dashed for the exit, throwing the door open and lunging around the corner of the café, into a thin alley. Hopefully she would get the message.

Except she didn't. When I turned around it was to find myself shoved against the brick wall of the building.

Well, I guess if I had been her, I would be pretty pissed too. It's probably normal to be shoved against the wall in this context, right?

'You know, it's not very polite to run out on your first date. Maybe I should teach you some manners.'

I gulped.

'I didn't mean it!' I defended. 'I just… had no money for the tea and…' I trailed off at the incredulous expression on her face, and became acutely aware of how close we were standing.

'So… you forgot to bring money to pay for your… tea,' she drawled, the mocking tone sharp in her words.

I glanced away guiltily.

'Yea…' I mumbled, realising how stupid that sounded.

She shook her head, and yet her eyes gleamed with mischief.

'Well, onto another topic… if you drop yours, I'll drop mine.'

Wait, what?

My mouth dropped open. Was it just me, or was this moving really quickly? Especially considering she was supposedly mad at me.

'Wait, I- I'm not ready!' I cried. 'I- my pants are really fine material, if I take them off they'll get dirty!'

Silence stretched between us.

'You know, so far, for a ninja you haven't shown much intellect…'

And suddenly it hit me.

Immediately my face turned cold, my mouth hardened into a thin line. The henges.

'Say that again, you stupid plastic skank!' I snarled. 'Which reminds me, I have a mission to get back to, so unless you plan on stopping me, you can just crawl back to your… hole or whatever.'

'I do not live in a hole, I live in an underground lair,' she corrected.

Oh, so she _did_ work for Orochimaru after all. She didn't seem too dangerous, considering she hadn't attacked me yet or anything.

'Fine,' I growled. Hah, I could take this bitch. 'We drop our henges in three, two-'

'They always choose my alley to fight,' a man suddenly growled, a man who I hadn't even noticed until now had been sitting against the left wall of the alley only metres from us. He stood and shuffled past us, grumbling obscenities under his breath as he vacated the alley to make space for our oncoming fight. 'Fucking ninja.'

I sneered at him, before turning my attention back to Hazuki. She smiled coldly.

'You were saying…?'

'Oh yes, three, two… one.'

The air poofed, and I found myself once more at a much shorter height. I hadn't really thought this through, had I?

I stared at a black, shimmering kimono which enveloped a distinctly not feminine body.

I looked up slowly, only to find myself staring into yellow eyes, wide with unabashed shock, reflecting my own.

'Well, that certainly explains a lot,' a deep, velvety voice mused.

My breath left me in a whoosh.

* * *

Song: Let you Down

By: NF

* * *

 **Question:**

 **Is Sasayaki plain stupid or just immature?**


	10. Devil

' **Speech through radio'**

' _Speech by signing'_

"Normal speech"

 _Thoughts_

* * *

 _Song: Scars_

 _By: I prevail_

* * *

"There is… nothing here. The lab has been evacuated," the brown haired one with the cat mask reported as the six figures stood in the underground lab.

"No traces of past experiments, no remaining equipment or notes," the purple-haired one added.

"A trap," the young black haired one finished.

There was no surprise when sound of roaring water fell upon their ears and the ground below them crumbled away to reveal a pit of snakes.

* * *

There's something to be said about playing the fool. On one hand, it can be comparably easy to trying to pretend wisdom. On the other hand, it in itself can be a difficult feat to accomplish.

Too bad I didn't need to _play_ the fool.

Oh, I certainly had let my guard down, I definitely thought that by being posted as the lookout I wouldn't get into any danger. I had let myself revert to my casual mindset, even so far as to lean forward towards that pretty, pretty woman and demand if she was a spy.

Worse than a rookie's mistake, it was spurred on by rattled nerves and childish boredom.

I had been _bored_ and I had put my whole mission in jeopardy, and what's worse was it had come back to bite me in the arse. I had been thinking about how to pay for my _tea_ like an _idiot_ rather than worrying about any _actual threat._ And here I thought I was actually pretty good at repressing my emotions, curtesy of Root.

Great job, me. Talk about priorities.

Which reminded me, I had more important things to worry about.

Eyes like glowing golden embers burned through the shadows of the alley, not missing a thing. They were only inches away.

"Well, that certainly explains a lot," a deep, velvety voice mused.

I was terrified, blindsided by the sudden and unexpected adrenalin that coursed through me. I had been expecting a weak woman, in my mind she would have been optimistically only at genin level and easy to take down like normally happened in the anime.

And here I was faced with a demon.

I was frozen in place, my heart struggling to decide whether to speed up or stop completely.

Flawless porcelain skin, slanted eyes further enhanced by purple markings and hair as black as the night framed his features.

It didn't seem fair, somehow, that someone so… _evil_ could look like that.

And yet, it fit him perfectly, because when his pale, pale face morphed into that terrifying smirk, it was hard to imagine such _inhuman_ eyes on a normal, kind person.

The rumours didn't lie. There used to be whispers that a single look from this demon could make a man fall to his knees, a simple smile could make a woman fall to his charm.

Some whispers claimed he could make even the coldest of souls bow, the hardest of hearts melt to his every whim, even those who knew the truth.

That he was a sadistic mad scientist with no morals.

But let's not stray from the point. He was going to _fucking kill me_.

And I was stuck in the body of a little girl barely up to his waist in height.

I didn't have a plan for this, I wasn't prepared and I most certainly had _no fucking clue_ what I was meant to do next.

My mind took me back to the lecture on protocol I received. Well, it was a start at least. Providing he actually let me use my radio.

I moved my arm slowly, like I was trying not to startle a wild beast. My hand inched for the button on my hidden radio headset, even though Orochimaru was watching my every move. He smirked and crossed his arms, appearing content to just watch me for a moment.

"Go ahead," he purred, even though I hadn't verbalised a question.

God, I can't believe _he_ was the pretty lady! I would forever look back on this day with shame.

I clicked the button on the transmitter.

 _Forget the fucking call code._

"Target sighted… do I engage the target?" I asked meekly, never once breaking eye-contact with the man towering over me.

 _Holy shit._

I could die here. I could _fucking die._

My eyes suddenly widened with horror at the transmission I received, my gaze turning glassy and faraway despite the fact my eyes were glued to _his_.

Through the crackling receiver I heard yells and shouts, clanging and thumping sounds and what sounded like the howling of wind and the crackling of fire and various others I couldn't even begin to identify.

It was Kakashi who responded.

' **Abort the mission!'** his normal, usually neutral tone was gone to be replaced by harsh panic. **'Stall for time, if that fails try and get out** **alive. If you are captured, initiate Root's suicide seal. Do you understand me?'**

"Hai," I responded, the first tears prickling at my eyes.

' **Best of luck,'** there was a loud _crash_ and the line went dead.

"Inu! Come in! _Inu!_ " I cried, for a second forgetting what stood right in front of me.

There was no response.

I didn't have time to wonder what the hell was happening to the rest of the others though, because Orochimaru finally deemed it fit to respond.

"Things don't seem to be going to well down there, hm?"

He clearly guessed from my reaction the gist of the conversation, and my eyes slowly refocussed on his face.

 _Stall for time._

Just how much time could I stall for before he would get bored and try and kill me?

"Why are you here?" I asked, assuming a cold façade. "What is your purpose?"

Because I wasn't stupid. I could be a fool, but I wasn't stupid. If the others, an elite squad of infiltrators and assassins had been caught, someone must have set us up.

I was hedging my bet on Danzo.

"Oh, this and that," he said airily, and then his hand reached forward like he was going to remove my mask-

I darted to the side on pure instinct, allowing a good two metres of space between us, then I turned around and braced myself expecting a fight.

But Orochimaru only stood watching me, haunting yellow eyes flashing with amusement.

My breaths came haggardly at the adrenalin racing through my veins.

"P-please don't kill me, I- I have a wife and three children!" I cried, voice high-pitched with fear. "I'm nobody! I don't have any special skills! You won't have any use for my body, so you shouldn't kidnap me or anything-"

I cut off as he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

Was he ignoring me? Was he bored? What the _fuck?_

However, the scary, random, terrible thought flashed through my mind that he didn't consider me a threat, he had lowered his guard and this could be my best chance at beating him.

It was an outrageous thought, I knew that even as it flitted through my head, but what other choice did I have. I couldn't stall forever, and I knew deep down that it was unlikely the others were going to make it back anytime soon.

I lunged, forming a tiny chain on my palm that would pierce him in the chest.

He disappeared.

In less than a second my mask was ripped from my face, and I yelped as my diaphragm was all but caved in by a fist, rendering me breathless.

Snakes wrapped themselves around my wrists behind my back as I struggled to breathe, and I was hoisted easily into the air, hands lifting me by my underarms like some kind of disobedient child.

Orochimaru held me before him, seemingly studying my face. I felt so exposed.

 _No, don't touch me, DON'T TOUCH ME!_

If there was one thing I hated, it was being treated like a child. The only one allowed to do that was Lady, and she was gone, gone, _gone_.

Still, I could say nothing as I continued to gasp for breath, each one I managed to gain slightly more air into my lings.

"The first thing you should learn, little Usagi, is not to jump to conclusions. And the second thing is… well, not to fall for such obvious bait." He regarded me with mirth as I squirmed and kicked my legs helplessly.

I reached for my chakra, readying my CC chains to go on the attack, but my attention was diverted when a figure suddenly landed beside us.

It was Kabuto, his clothes torn in some places and singed in others. He had numerous cuts on his arms.

 _This is my chance!_

I could use this moment to attack Kabuto, since I knew he was on their side and no one else was here to witness it!

The CC chain flew from my sleeves, straight for Kabuto.

But he was fast.

He stepped to the side, his eyes wide with shock, narrowly dodging the sharp blade on the end.

 _(He doesn't know you know he's a spy, fool)_

But by then, it was too late. I had to keep going now.

The log released from the end with a quick burst of chakra, and suddenly I was there, in the place of the log, right behind Kabuto. My hand was already shooting towards his back, chain protruding, and he did not react fast enough.

I stabbed him through the back, hoping against hope I got his heart.

 _(I tried to kill someone.)_

 _(I felt nothing.)_

Kabuto stumbled away, but I was already dashing away as fast as possible.

I glanced back in time to notice Kabuto toss something to Orochimaru, something that looked a lot like… a scroll. A scroll that had the typical Root seal on it.

 _Danzo!_

I was so close to the street, about to turn the corner when the rest of the squad, minus Yugao, suddenly appeared, dashing around that same corner.

I ran face-first into a blood-stained Tenzo, stumbling back and landing on my butt while he attempted to catch me before I fell.

The three of them looked much worse for wear, Itachi was literally head to toe drenched in blood that luckily appeared to not belong to him, while Kakashi and Tenzo's clothes, even their ANBU armour, were ripped and torn in several places and soaking wet.

"Orochimaru!" Kakashi hissed as Tenzo and I scrambled around in the background. "Who informed you of our presence?"

The scroll was gone, probably hidden in his black kimono.

His long black hair fell over his face slightly as he tilted his head, golden eyes regarding us with amusement.

We tensed, taking our respective stances, preparing for attack.

Did taking a step back and hiding behind Kakashi count as taking a stance?

A moment later Kabuto was beside us as well, pretending the knife wound I had inflicted was from Orochimaru.

"Kakashi-kun, it has been a while. In answer to your question, well, I have my ways. Now, are we going to stand around all day talking or shall I kill you all now?" His eyes were mocking as he took in the states of my squad.

He stood before us his arms folded into his kimono sleeves, and his stance casual, as if he didn't see the five of us as a threat at all.

His cruel smirk was what was truly terrifying, the smile of someone who wanted to play, and he _knew_ his little playthings would not be able to do a single thing about it.

This was who I wanted to force to teach me the reanimation jutsu.

 _Yea, good luck with that._

There was no hesitation as Kakashi raised his arm in the typical 'commence battle' sign, despite the fact that the he, Itachi, Tenzo and Kabuto were clearly unfit for battle, and I was, well, more of a burden than anything.

But as ANBU and Root respectively, there is no such thing as self-preservation. There is only the goal.

And that goal was to eliminate one S-rank missing-nin.

The four of them rushed into a basic formation around him, while I tried to decide what would be my own best plan of action. After all, I would probably just get in everyone's way.

Orochimaru grinned widely, like a kid about to receive a trophy, and seemed unperturbed as he was faced four to one.

Tenzo and Itachi moved first, rushing in to engage him. I noticed Itachi's sharingan flash, and Orochimaru seemed to freeze in place just before they were upon him.

Yugao suddenly appeared, dropping from the rooftop just as Tenzo landed the first hit with a pointed pillar of wood that pierced Orochimaru through the stomach, holding him in place as Yugao brought her sword down on his head.

I could only watch in awe as Orochimaru melted into mud, but by then Kakashi was already breathing out a strong stream of wind and Itachi complimented it with a fireball shooting straight for the brick wall of the café I had been in.

There were screams as the wall shattered and fire erupted within, clearly Orochimaru had been hiding there yet I had not been able to sense him.

And he most certainly wasn't there anymore.

"So destructive," a voice mused, echoing throughout what was left of the alley. "And they call me the bad guy."

From there, it went to hell.

I felt the blood splatter my face before I even registered what had happened.

Orochimaru appeared behind Yugao, and at the same time that he stabbed his bare hand through her heart, Kakashi drew the sword from its holster and stabbed straight through her neck and grazed Orochimaru's chest.

 _What_ what _WHAT_ -

Yugao collapsed, lifeless, her heart shredded and trachea ripped apart in the barest of moments.

The air crackled with electricity, Kakashi having managed to electrocute Orochimaru through the sword (that had been in Yugao's _neck_ ), but it wasn't enough. Orochimaru was stunned for only a moment, but by the time Tenzo and Kabuto were upon him he had recovered.

The world around me seemed to explode as the earth shattered itself without warning and suddenly rocks and bricks were flying at the four squad members like projectiles. The buildings beside us collapsed, but by then the shops had well and truly evacuated, as had everyone within a mile radius.

I moved, for the first time since the fight began. I moved because Tenzo dropped to his knees with a yell of pain, clutching where the wall had collapsed on his ankle, and a flying brick was heading straight for his head-

I blocked it in time, wincing as the thing slammed heavily into my unprotected arms, but just as suddenly the hair on the back of my neck rose in warning.

I went to spin around, but not fast enough. A hand clasped over my mouth and another across my chest, forcing my back against the body behind me.

A snake tightened its grip around my throat

I tried to scream, but my cries were cut off.

It didn't matter anyway because in the split second I had rushed ahead to save Tenzo, Itachi and Kakashi had been bitten by tiny snakes while they'd been focussed on blocking the debris. Tiny, hidden snakes that clearly had extremely fast-acting poisons that disappeared back into the debris like wisps of wind.

I could only watch as first Itachi and then Kakashi collapsed in front of me.

Tenzo rose shakily and got into a fighting stance despite his ankle, eyes narrowed.

"You certainly let things pass me by these last few months, Kabuto," Orochimaru drawled, seemingly ignoring Tenzo.

Tenzo gasped when he realised Kabuto was a traitor, eyeing the two of them silently.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, my lord, I thought you would appreciate the surprise," Kabuto promptly responded, though he didn't look apologetic in the least.

I knew I should be worrying about what was going to happen to us, whether they were planning to kill Tenzo and I (after all they just revealed Kabuto's status as a spy in front of us) but instead I could only think about the bloody, lifeless body- _corpse_ on the ground.

I felt lightheaded. Yugao's death flashed through my mind again and again, seeing that sword through her throat and Orochimaru's bare hand in her chest-

(I tried to kill a man and yet I felt nothing...

So why did this matter?)

An involuntary whimper escaped my lips when I realised that blood-covered hand was currently pressing into my chest, and I felt the blood leave my face.

I was going to heave.

As if sensing this, Orochimaru pushed me away, not harshly, just a gentle shove, and I fell to my knees in front of him and spewed.

 _Well, there's one way to repel a ninja when they are holding you captive,_ I thought numbly.

While I was coughing up bile, body wracked with tremors, Tenzo moved, hoping to take the slim chance provided while I was not being held hostage.

It ended within seconds. Orochimaru let out a sigh as if he found the situation terribly irritating or perhaps boring, and then a second later Tenzo was lying on the ground, felled from a harsh chop to the neck. Orochimaru stood over him, considering.

Kabuto wandered over to the others and I was surprised to see him begin healing their wounds.

Perhaps the snake bites weren't lethal. Or maybe he planned to take their bodies back to his lab and needed them in good condition.

 _I… am so retiring as a shinobi if I get out alive._

Of course I knew it wasn't really an option. Once you get inducted into Root, there is no going back.

I won't lie, I was shaking like a lamb to the slaughter, which was a sadly accurate simile.

 _(And for a second, I wanted to laugh at the fact I had been expecting myself to die, not my idols as well- clearly I did not understand what the worst outcome was)_

I began to crawl away as quietly as possible, hoping they had forgotten about me in the mayhem.

But no, of course not. Who was I kidding?

A foot stepped into view, blocking my pathetic escape attempt. I quivered slightly, not daring to raise my eyes any higher than the pale toes peeking out from the shinobi sandal.

A hand gripped my neck, and lifted me.

I felt the tears well in my eyes, felt my lip tremble despite my best attempts to stop it. I went very, very still. My body hung limply in the air, and my gaze strayed anywhere but the snake-like visage in front of me.

I sniffled, blinking to try and rid the blurriness in my vision caused by my tears.

He brought me closer until his mouth was next to my ear.

"Are you still not habituated to death yet?" that velvety voice cooed. "How unsightly of me. Poor child."

I was, I _was_ used to death. Or at least, I was meant to be. My Root training was meant to ensure it. And yet...

I opened my mouth to speak, my throat was so dry it sounded like I had sanded a table with my voice.

"If you kill me, Danzo will not forgive you." Even though my voice was harsh and dry, my tone remained strangely calm.

There was no point wasting chakra, no point fighting. If he wanted me dead, he would kill me.

"No need to worry about that," he whispered mysteriously, breath tickling my ear. I stared despondently at the exit of the alley, past his silky ink-black hair.

 _So close yet so far._

"I simply want you to pass on a message- tell that old, decrepit war hawk that I accept his offer- and that I'm sure he'll understand why I decided to take an appetiser. He does, after all, need to repent for his actions against me."

Before I could ask what he was talking about, I felt his fingers tighten around my neck cutting off my oxygen supply. I was lifted back so I was facing him again.

My mouth opened, I tried to force any words out, or even get a breath in, but all I could do was gape like fish.

 _He's… strangling me._

I gripped his forearm, trying to dig my non-existent nails into his skin. A tiny squeak managed to escape my throat as my legs kicked uselessly, his arm too long for me to make any contact considering my tiny body.

"And you can rest assured I will find out who informed you of where Ushi's loyalties lie…" he smiled crookedly.

 _Well, shit._

I was crying now. The stress of everything was too much, and to top it off I was getting strangled by the devil.

He was smirking, like he enjoyed watching me struggle, and I didn't doubt it for a second.

As the world began to crowd in around me, and my flailing weakened.

 _Fuck him, fuck Kabuto, fuck Danzo. Fuck the fucking Hokage._

Blackness crowded in on me, and soon only those two glowing yellow beacons were visible.

And then they went out.

* * *

 _Song: Scars_

 _By: I Prevail_


	11. Redemption

' **Speech through radio'**

' _Speech by signing'_

"Normal speech"

 _Thoughts_

* * *

 _Song:_ _Machines_

 _By:_ _All Good Things_

* * *

"Your impressions, Kakashi?"

"Danzo is definitely up to something. To wave Sasayaki in front of Orochimaru like that, and moreover for him to not kill or abduct him, I can only conclude that something is going down between them. Also, whoever was assigning teams to the missions should be looked into; it may have been coincidence that Tenzo with his mokuton and Itachi and I with our sharingan were also chosen for the mission, but I would prefer it not be left up to chance."

The Hokage nodded slowly, leaning back in his chair with a muffled sigh.

"I see. And Kakashi, I am truly sorry for your losses."

Kakashi rose from his crouched position, silently taking his leave.

"Oh and Kakashi…"

A beat of silence.

"You should check up on Naruto and Sasayaki every once in a while. It will be good for you."

* * *

There are some things, earth-shattering, soul bending, heart breaking occurrences that happen to us and we tell not a one.

This was one of those things.

* * *

I woke up to the chemical smell of a hospital and all the white sheets and metal furnishings that go along with the deal. I didn't even have the privacy of my own room, I was simply hidden from view by a curtain. I could hear the low rumble of conversation in the room, from other temporary patients who had visitors and nurses that were checking up on them.

I was alone in my little curtained-off space.

I had time to think, upon awakening and realising where I was. Konoha hospital. Kabuto, or maybe one of my team members must have bought me back.

And now I was stuck with Kabuto knowing I know he was a spy, I realised that Danzo set Team Ro up for some kind of deal with Orochimaru and now possibly all of them are _dead._

 _And what did Orochimaru mean when he said 'taking an appetiser', and what exactly was in the scroll that Kabuto gave him, with the offer from Danzo?_

I closed my eyes, ignoring the beeping of monitors and the buzz of conversation outside my curtain.

But a question was buzzing there in the back of my head.

 _(Why did Kakashi stab Yugao?)_

 _Oh my god, I killed my idols! I killed the one meant to be the strongest ninja, Itachi!_

You could not possibly understand the pure _anguish-_

"Nii-san! You're here!"

I was interrupted from my gloomy reverie by a loud, high-pitched voice.

My head jerked up at the familiar voice just outside my curtain.

 _Sasuke?_

That could only mean one thing.

With delicate hands and brewing hope, I carefully reached out and grabbed the edge of my curtain, then pulled it open just slightly so I could peer out from where I lay.

Sasuke had ripped back the curtain next to mine, revealing a fully healed Itachi Uchiha. Standing next to his bedside was of course Sasuke and his mother, Mikoto. Not that I was meant to know her name, mind.

 _YES! Fate no jutsu strikes again! As if THE Itachi would just die, haha. What was I thinking?_

 _S_ asuke sported a completely blissful childish smile as he looked adoringly upon his brother. I intended to close the curtain again so they wouldn't notice me, but then I saw Itachi's smile.

 _Itachi's smile._

During the mission, he'd been stoic and expressionless and I had no doubt he was like that even when not on missions. But in the presence of his brother, that false exterior seemed to slip off.

I couldn't look away. It was simply _captivating_ in a way I couldn't explain. Surely they wouldn't notice me if I just kept still…

"Hey, it's Sasayaki!" Sasuke thrust a finger in my direction, a shocked look on his face. "He's my classmate, what would _he_ be doing here, in the hospital?"

He was speaking loudly despite the fact he was addressing his brother and mother. I decided to ignore the part where he screwed up my gender. Like everyone else in this world seemed to.

 _Welp, that lasted. Crap, what do I say to that?_

I gaped, attempting to come up with a quick solution.

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

Itachi glanced over at me, his expression falling flat.

He probably wasn't sure why Sasuke was calling me a guy. I'm clearly 100% a girl.

"He fell off a swing," Itachi decided for me. Mikoto chuckled.

 _Or not. Can no one tell I'm a girl? I have beautiful big eyes! And a braid! A BRAID!_

Then again, I decided to keep my gender a secret from Danzo, it's my little secret. I smirked at the thought. No one knew except the Gang and Naruto.

Wait, Naruto knows right? He knows I'm a girl? He uses the suffix '-chan', but then again that can be used for girls and boys when they are young enough.

Holy shit, could it be Naruto thinks I'm a boy?

No, I did not have time to think about this right now. What was I meant to be thinking about again? Oh yes, Itachi's improvisation skills.

 _Sheesh, Itachi's improvisation skills are even worse than mine! Hah, as if I would ever fall off a dumb swing._

He clearly didn't know who he was talking about.

I would get him back for that.

"Really?" Sasuke darted over to me, distracted from his brother by the strange curiosity that was his classmate. "Why would you do that?"

Behind him, Itachi and Mikoto began talking in hushed tones, but my attention returned to Sasuke when he shifted in front of me impatiently.

"I- I didn't deliberately do it," I snapped, rolling my eyes.

"Are you friends with my Nii-san?" Sasuke demanded, eyes narrowing. I was about to deny it, but then a better idea popped into my head.

I nodded sagely.

"Yes, I am Itachi's friend. His _best_ friend. He was the one pushing me on the swing!"

Sasuke's eyes lit up with jealousy. Success!

"Nii-san!" Sasuke interrupted the conversation Itachi and Mikoto were having. "Why were you pushing a kid from my class on a swing? You always say you never have time for me, but you do for _him?_ "

Was that a flash of surprise that crossed Itachi's features? I smirked at him from behind Sasuke.

Ah, revenge is sweet.

"It was part of my… mission," Itachi said in a deadpan, his blank eyes landing on me. "He was caught defacing a building. The Hokage requested that I baby-sit him in order to ensure he does not repeat such actions."

Ouch. That hurt. Damn him making me seem like a childish troublemaker!

…

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

Still, the idea of Itachi doing a mission so civilian such as _baby-sitting_ was just laughable. Not that Sasuke knew that, and his mother would have caught on to what was going on here. If the odd look she was giving me was any indication, she realised that I had somehow been a part of Itachi's actual mission.

"Well, you were a terrible baby-sitter because you made me fall off the swing!"

Itachi inclined his head, as if contributing any more to the conversation would further wither his remaining sanity.

"But- but then how did Nii-san get hurt?"

I grinned devilishly.

"Well, Sasuke, let me tell you the abridged version! It all started with…"

Itachi let out a long-suffering sigh.

-20 minutes later-

"And so I ended up beating up the Kazekage for trying to steal my dango!"

Wait, did I actually end up explaining why Itachi was in hospital? Eh, it would have been skilfully mixed in with my story somewhere. I nodded to myself for my amazing bullshitting skills. 10/10.

I turned back to my audience to find Sasuke softly snoring with his head still on my bed, at some point having occupied the one seat at my bedside.

I glared at him before turning to my other probably awestruck listeners.

"…And so as I was saying, in order to make dango you need syrup-" Mikoto abruptly halted her conversation with Itachi when she realised I was staring at her dolefully.

"Er, that was a great story, Sasayaki was it?" she clapped her hands together as if that would make me feel better. She looked a little bit guilty, which _did_ make me feel a little bit better.

Itachi glanced at Sasuke.

"Mother, perhaps you two should return home. I will be back shortly, however first I must report to the hokage."

Mikoto nodded and approached my bed to pick Sasuke up.

"Oh, and Sasayaki, feel free to come by for dinner anytime so we can properly apologise for Itachi's behaviour."

 _Itachi's behaviour?_

 _Oh yea, the swing._

The offer was so out of the blue it took me by surprise. My eyes narrowed slightly, but Mikoto's smile seemed genuine.

"Thank you..?"

"My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mikoto Uchiha. I hope to see you around!"

I blinked, then shrugged as I watched her leave.

It wouldn't be like she was inviting me over for a deeper purpose, would it? I mean, just because I'm friends, close enough to consider him my brother, with the Kyuubi's host, the most powerful tailed being. And just because there has been a recorded incident in history where the Kyuubi has been controlled by the sharingan. Pah, and just because they might be planning a coup and need all the power they can get and the addition of the Kyuubi would be all the power they need to take control of the village surely didn't contribute to her inviting me over.

I must be delusional! I'm way too paranoid these days, clearly.

I am still not accepting her invite.

Unless…

I grinned to myself as I imagined being surrounded by Uchiha. Since I'm an adult in disguise, I wouldn't be vulnerable to manipulation like Mikoto is probably expecting, providing she is inviting me for personal gain. I had the upper hand! I could pretend to be gullible but they would be the fools!

In fact, it would certainly bring me closer to finding a solution to the Uchiha clan massacre, and while they would be expecting that I'm a dumb brat I could be doing my _own_ investigating. If I spun this right, I might even get to meet Shisui! I could get info from Sasuke! I would become his best friend and use that to-

Woah, woah, hold up there. I need to tone it down on the creepy manipulative stuff. But then again it's for the greater good.

Ugh, that sounds like something Danzo would say.

Still, plans would have to wait. For now…

"I'm going to report to the hokage, you should go, too."

And by that, Itachi meant go and report to Danzo.

* * *

It turns out, Kabuto was already there when I arrived, still in my hospital gown because my Root gear had been taken god-knows-where since I couldn't been seen anywhere near it in public. I didn't even have my mask! Talk about unprofessional conduct, plus the fact my face will be exposed to Danzo's beady little eye.

Before the entrance to Danzo's, I composed myself and breathed in deeply.

 _I can do this. I am a machine. Expressionless, emotionless, faceless. I don't even need my face, they are for people with emotions. Faces are overrated._

With that admittedly depressing thought in mind, I stepped into the room.

Like I said, Kabuto was there already, and so I made my way inside and to his side, remaining quiet as he recounted the mission. Danzo didn't even glance at me until Kabuto had finished.

According to Kabuto, Orochimaru had knocked the others out and he had healed them enough that they woke and could relatively safely return. And then they had returned with me and gone to the hospital to patch up the last of what needed to be healed.

Except Yugao, of course. And Tenzo.

"Tenzo was taken, as I discussed with you earlier, Danzo-sama."

My blood drained from my skin even though my expression remained frozen in that blank expression.

 _"I simply want you to pass on a message- tell that old, decrepit war hawk that I accept his offer- and that I'm sure he'll understand why I decided to take an appetiser. He does, after all, need to repent for his actions against me."_

Tenzo was the 'appetiser'. Orochimaru had kidnapped Tenzo.

 _Orochimaru kidnapped Tenzo!_

"Do you still intend to go through with the plan?" Kabuto continued in that droning voice indicative of a Root agent.

Danzo nodded curtly.

"I expected something to this effect. The plan will continue."

Just what is this plan? What is going on?

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

"Usagi."

I was jerked from my stupor by Danzo's ugly, toneless voice.

It wasn't even a question, just a command. So I recounted my portion of what had happened, feeling more miserable than ever.

It was all so _fucked up_ and confusing. Yugao hadn't died in the anime, and Tenzo hadn't been captured, and it was, in all technicality, _my fault._

 _I have to save him. I have to save Tenzo from Orochimaru._

I wasn't like Naruto and Sasuke with their power-ups and main character benefits, I was just an average ninja. Those two will surpass anything with brute strength and ninjutsu, but I needed a different way to obtain my goals.

 _I won't be able to beat Orochimaru head-on anytime soon even if I train like hell because he's… well, him. I simply need to learn to run away, to be_ fast, _and to infiltrate and get Tenzo out of his predicament without alerting anyone_.

So what if I'm a coward? I'd take that over being dead any day. This was my duty, even more so because I caused it.

I thought back to my life goals, and promptly added my most recent;

1: Make friends with Naruto (check) and Sasuke in case I can't stop the Uchiha massacre so we can be friends before Sasuke turns all angst-y, and Naruto and I can support him.

2: Get Sasuke away from the Uchiha district when the massacre happens so he would not be so traumatised (if massacre happens).

3: Stay friends for life, become awesome ninja and kick Orochimaru's, Obito's and Madara's asses.

4: Get Tenzo _the fuck away_ from Orochimaru ASAP.

* * *

I went home that afternoon, I had to sneak into Kiyoshi's house and get changed out of my hospital gown before anyone noticed.

Then I called a meeting using the whistle and Naruto, Junko, Takeshi, the twins, Akemi and Kiyoshi greeted me cheerily in the cramped space of Kiyoshi's home, asking me how the run had been. _The run-_ because that was what Kiyoshi said I'd been doing. An errand for his friend.

I smiled.

"Yea, it was easy. What did I miss?"

Then they started chattering about what I had missed while I'd been away- apparently Emi had pulled an amazing trick using that book 'Cards, Connery and Chakra Strings' that a stranger had given them. It was written by some no-name called Mitsuo. Probably a jackass with no life who had nothing else to do but fuck around with strangers, stealing their money. Then he had the nerve to write a book about it. Blasphemous!

"Sasayaki!" Junko admonished harshly. "Think about what you just said."

Oops, did I say that aloud?

"Yea, you basically just described what we do for a living," Kiyoshi said with a mischievous grin.

The others gaped at him.

"I guess he kinda right," Takeshi added contemplatively.

"At least we have a reason!" I growled, more harshly than intended. The others fell silent again.

Akemi tugged on my sleeve.

' _Are you ok?'_ He signed with his nimble fingers, his pale orange eyes peering at me.

From that point on, that question would be the bane of my existence. I fucking hate that question. No, everything was _not_ ok.

While these kids had been playing House I had seen _Kakashi_ stab Yugao through the neck like she meant _nothing_. Oh, and let's not forget Orochimaru kidnapped Tenzo. Yet everything just kept going on like nothing had _fucking_ happened.

And it hadn't, not for them. And I had to keep my trap shut unless I wanted Danzo to murder me. In fact the Root seal probably prohibited it anyway, not that I was willing to test it. But the fact was I should be traumatised, I'm just a kid. No wait, that's a lie. Maybe I shouldn't be traumatised? I'm an adult, after all. What the hell is wrong with me?

No, I wasn't the problem here. Kakashi was. Here I thought he cared about his comrades and yet he led his own team into a mass suicide against Orochimaru, and he-

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

"Sasa-chan?" Naruto asked softly as I turned away from the group.

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

All I could hear was my breathing, loud compared to the strangely muted sound of everything else. Everything seemed to slow, even I felt sluggish as I spun on my heel.

"There is something I have to do."

 _(Why did he stab her?)_

I missed the betrayed look in his eyes, missed those wide, sad blue eyes as they tracked my retreating form.

"Well, that was weird," Eri decided with a shrug.

"Let her be," Kiyoshi said, waving dismissively, though he too watched me leave.

* * *

The ninja graveyard was a rarely frequented place in this village, and probably all ninja villages. Which is no surprise, really, after all if people mourned here every time a ninja died no one would have time for anything else.

As I walked past the numerous graves, I didn't even glance at them. I didn't even notice the chilly air causing Goosebumps on my skin, nor the whip of the wind through my hair. I had eyes only for the silver-haired man standing before one of the numerous graves, his hands in his pockets.

The grave read 'Obito Uchiha'. Was he the only one that mattered to Kakashi?

I came to a stop behind him. I knew this was rude. I knew it was considered impolite to interrupt someone while grieving, but my body felt like it was on autopilot.

"Kakashi."

Kakashi turned slowly until he was halfway facing me, tilting his head back to stare over his shoulder at me with his grey eye.

 _(Why?)_

"What are you doing here, Sasayaki?" He didn't sound particularly surprised, perhaps just resigned.

My mouth spoke for me.

"Why are you not standing with Yugao?"

Kakashi let out a slow breath.

He ran a hand through his hair, "Whatever you want, I can't help you with it."

 _Because I'm just a stupid kid you don't want to spend time with?_

"Yes, you can. I want to know why you stabbed her like she meant nothing, spat on her image, used her as a diversion so you could use her death to get a single, useless hit on Orochimaru." My voice was toneless but my eyes were riveted to his, waiting.

Kakashi's one eye shut briefly.

"Let me tell you something, and you're not going to like it. You are grieving and you need an outlet for your emotions. You know what I did was logical. It was an opportunity to attack the enemy while he was distracted and unsuspecting and I took it. You chose me, a convenient source to unleash your emotions upon. Yugao was already _dead._ "

The last part was said with an intensity that caused my heart to jolt and chills to course down my spine.

"I am not grieving," I hissed, the world suddenly sharpening back into focus, and I found my grip on myself return. "I barely even knew Yugao! I have no reason to _grieve_ her! And you have no right to tell me that, you're just trying to cover up for the fact that you spat upon her memory by stabbing her corpse!"

It felt so _good_ , so good to cuss and curse and scream.

Kakashi began to walk away with a heaving sigh, and I followed him, fuming.

"Spat on her image, I tell you! You'll pay for this! Unlike you, I have respect for other people! You son of a bitch, you're just out of control! The Hokage needs to put you on a leash!"

Kakashi just kept walking, with me trailing him like a puppy, an angry, cursing puppy that was insulting him every three steps.

I felt my rage dwindling with each crude curse spat from my mouth, until the fire had died from my words.

We ended up walking into a small tea shop, and several patrons turned their heads to stare at the strange sight.

"Sit," Kakashi ordered, and without thinking I did so even as I continued snarling at him.

I went quiet though when the waiter approached us, because he was glaring at me and I suddenly noticed that people were still staring at me.

"A green tea pot for two, please," Kakashi said politely.

"And ten green-tea flavoured mochi," I added, noticing them on the menu.

Kakashi glanced at me sharply but didn't revoke it as the waiter nodded and walked off.

Hah, serves him right.

Anyway, where was I?

I opened my mouth, searching for another insult, but he beat me to it.

"Sasayaki, I'm going to be frank with you. We are not meant to be seen together in public, as we are not publicly associated in any way, and people will start asking questions if they see us together."

I blinked. Oh, shit. He was right. I had approached him and started ranting aloud about his incompetence. That was sure to raise some eyebrows, especially considering Kakashi was a famous ninja and I was just a gutter rat.

"Oops," I said blandly, not really sure how I should react.

"However… this may work out well. The Hokage has asked that I keep an eye on you and Naruto for classified reasons. It will be on record that I have reason to interact with you."

 _Wait, don't tell me… Is it because he found out I am in Root? Am I a suspect?_

If I thought about it, I was definitely suspicious, befriending the jinchuuriki and also being a part of Root. Of _course_ the Hokage would want me watched, probably trying to figure out if Danzo had any intentions for Naruto by using me. Which he _did_ , but still.

"Oh," I breathed. How did I not expect this already?

The tea and mochi arrived, giving me a small reprieve and I immediately dug into the sweets. I had never eaten a mochi before, but as I bit into its soft, comforting exterior and let the flavours spread over my tongue I fell in love.

This was the best shit on earth! How had no one told me about mochi before?

I was so glad I had ordered ten.

"Did you know that, since you are in the academy, you are eligible for an apartment at this age?" Kakashi asked softly, watching me stuff my face.

I halted mid-chew.

I was almost sure you had to be eight or above! Was this a new rule or something? Still, I could feel myself growing excited. Here was something to look forward to!

"Really?" I asked through a mouthful of mochi. "Sign me up! And Naruto! Ooh, can we get a joint apartment?"

We could even bring in beds for the Gang! This was perfect! This was just what we needed.

Kakashi's eye crinkled in a smile.

"Perhaps. I will arrange it with the Hokage. Bring Naruto and meet with me next week. We will sort out the details then."

That night didn't turn out how I expected. I expected to have a screaming match with Kakashi. Instead, I would be getting a new apartment curtesy of the man I had intended to shred apart. He also led me to discover mochi, so really I had a lot to thank him for.

And despite everything else, I smiled.

* * *

 _Song:_ _Machines_

 _By:_ _All Good Things_


	12. Recap Time I

_Song: Requiem: Lacrimosa_

 _By: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_

* * *

-In the streets of Yugakure-

"This is it! This is the place where I will open my restaurant. It will be the greatest restaurant in the world!"

Before the four people sat a grungy, run down building with a 'For Sale' sign out the front. The sign was overgrown with weeds and had so much graffiti it was basically undecipherable. The building itself was situated in a small, dirty dark alley beside a busy street bustling with people. The building was practically unnoticeable, not exactly the kind of place you would use to attract customers.

"…Papa, you're weird," the red-haired boy stated tonelessly.

* * *

Once upon a time, Yurei lived in a brothel.

He didn't really know what a brothel meant, but it didn't matter because he had a family there. He'd had a mother – her name was Lady. She could be harsh and strict, demanding obedience, but she cared for him like a real mother. He's had five sisters, one of which was also his best friend. Her name was Sasayaki. While his other four sisters, Ran, Ko, Chou and Eiko worked at the brothel, he and Sasayaki had brought in money with the help of the Gang.

But that was all gone now. Yurei didn't know if any of them were still alive – after all, he'd seen Chou and Eiko murdered right before his eyes. They were killed by a man with a white mask.

Now, he had a new place to live, a new best friend – her name is Kazuyo – but sometimes, he still thought about his old home and his old best friend.

* * *

Once, Sasayaki lived in a brothel.

But then, Danzo had the workers there killed to cut her ties. In the process, one of their fellow Gangsters was killed - Yurei. Kiyoshi knew this, had put the clues together from the moment he saw her white rabbit mask and ANBU uniform. Suddenly her 3-week disappearance after the massacre of the brothel made a lot of sense when they'd all thought she was dead, as did her sudden friendship with the Kyuubi boy and her sudden application to the academy. An application which should have been impossible as an unregistered gutter rat. He didn't know _why_ she had been ordered to be friends with the Kyuubi boy, nor why she had been recruited into Root, but it certainly opened up avenues for him and Junko to use. After all, they'd need all the power they could get for when they would decide to get out of the village.

* * *

Once, Anko visited a brothel.

It wasn't just any brothel, it was a brothel that had been recently massacred by Danzo to recruit a new member. The official story stated that a man had gone on a killing spree and had been captured but not before killing all the inhabitants save one – but Anko knew better.

Anko and Ibiki had been ordered by Danzo to check it out as a possible information gathering hub. It was a sign of trust from Danzo towards the Hokage that he had employed the Hokage's men to do the job rather than his own Root men – it meant that the Hokage was being kept in the loop about what he was up to.

It still didn't make Anko any less suspicious, especially when she knew there were several other places around the village being scouted as potential hubs of information. Not only that, Danzo was having passages constructed that lead from his underground network straight into the hubs, creating multiple entrances into the Root compound.

What these passages were for was unknown to her, and the Hokage would keep his head in the sand unless Danzo was proving an immediate threat to them.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder.

* * *

Once, Naruto used to be lonely.

But then he met a girl who became his best friend – sister even. She was a bit crazy and weird, like how she even wanted to be friends with him in the first place. She also giggled a lot at really weird times, and she was a very bad liar. But he decided not to pursue why she was getting these strange lessons with a mysterious teacher who was teaching her to use CC chains and a chain style; he wanted to stay friends with her, after all. She introduced him to an awesome group called the Gang and he wasn't lonely anymore. The Gang were a bit weird – they always wore tattered clothes and spent their time tricking or stealing money from people. They had this weird whistle thing they would do to call meetings, and they all knew how to do sign language because one of the Gangsters was mute (Naruto was starting to learn too), and they prayed to someone called 'the Founder' at the start of each morning meeting. But he still really liked them, even though Junko forced him to teach them things he learned at the academy. But it was fun, so he didn't mind.

Also, everyone except the Gang seemed to think Sasayaki was a boy. Well, Naruto supposed she did look like a boy but it surprised him when she never said anything and he decided not to question it. She seemed to find it funny when people called her 'boy'. She is weird like that.

* * *

Once, the stall-tender had a sense of dignity.

But then the demon boy and Whitey had come to his stall and ruined everything. They stole masks and wigs from him and the Whitey had even kicked him in his precious family jewels.

He hoped to never see them again.

* * *

Once, Shikamaru saw a kid with dirty white hair slip past a man and take the contents of his pockets on the way past.

Shikamaru couldn't be sure of their gender, but to make life easier he assumed they were a girl merely for the little braid she had. The girl was long gone before the man noticed the lack of weight in his pockets.

Shikamaru said nothing, silently commending the street girl on her skill and assuming he would never see her again.

Until he did, on the first day of the academy. She was friends with the boy called Naruto that everyone knew to stay away from.

They didn't have any other friends, and they ditched many of the days at the academy anyway. Iruka-sensei seemed to have a soft spot for them though.

Also, she was actually a he. Shikamaru accepted this with a shrug of his shoulders, as he did with her strange appearance at the academy and her friendship with the one everyone stays away from.

It was best to stay out of these types of matters anyway.

* * *

Once, Iruka though Naruto would never pass.

Then, shortly after meeting that white-haired boy Naruto began to actually learn some of the things he taught, like the leaf-sticking technique and even the substitution jutsu.

And on the occasional days he turned up to class, it was with a book on fuuinjutsu.

Iruka decided to ignore the fact Naruto wasn't actually listening to any of his lectures and let the boy be as he turned pages and absently drew with a calligraphy brush.

* * *

Once, Kabuto went on an S-ranked assassination mission with a five-year old.

She was tiny and frail with adorable wide, charcoal-black eyes. Kakashi had carried her across miles of land on his back, and Kabuto knew she weighed next to nothing. After all, he had done her medical examination in Root. She was to be used as bait to lure out Orochimaru-sama, and it had worked. Kakashi had tried to protect the white-haired girl by placing her as lookout, away from the action despite the Hokage's orders, but he had accidentally placed her right where the action was to occur.

She almost killed him that day. While his master held her like she was an incredibly cute puppy he had just received, she had manipulated her hidden Chakra-Conductive chain to shoot towards him. He hadn't been expecting the storage seal to be engraved on the CC chain, and her substitution had been seal-less, an incredibly difficult feat especially for an academy student.

It was a rather ingenious technique, and despite the fact he almost died he had to marvel at it.

His master accepted the deal Danzo proposed, although he did kill that Yugao woman and take the teenager with the mokuton. Danzo certainly didn't like that, but he still had no choice but to accept it unless he wanted to lose Orochimaru-sama's support for his plans to come to fruition.

* * *

Once, Sasuke believed the lie that his brother had a best friend in his year.

The white-haired boy who claimed to be Itachi's best friend had been in the hospital when he had visited, in the bed next to Itachi's. He had fallen off a swing that Itachi had been pushing, and had ended up in hospital. In hindsight, Sasuke questioned the validity of the story.

Still, even though the weird kid was friends with that blond-haired boy Sasuke considered the idea of getting to know the boy a bit better. After all, if he knew his mysterious brother then he clearly had to be someone of interest.

Yes, Sasuke decided with a determined nod. He would find out more about this boy.

* * *

Once, a white-haired boy interrupted his grieving.

Kakashi found himself taking the boy to a little tea shop even as the boy yelled obscenities at him. For a Root member, his emotional (and physical) training quality was highly questionable.

Not that this was a bad thing. In fact, Kakashi found himself feeling intensely relieved.

The boy ordered ten mochi using _his_ money, but Kakashi let it slide. Especially because it shut him up.

He seemed to really like mochi.

Before he knew it, Kakashi had offered the boy who was his teacher's son's best friend an apartment. His own apartment, because the boy wasn't eligible until eight years old. Not that he had told him that. Kakashi didn't need his own apartment; after all, he lived obsessively in his old clan home and the only reason he had an apartment was because the Hokage had forced him to buy it in the hopes he would leave his clan home and the ghosts that lurk there.

He hadn't.

And now that little apartment would serve as the home for his sensei's son and his Root-affiliated friend.

* * *

Once, Sasayaki only had 3 goals.

Now she has five:

1: Make friends with Sasuke in case I can't stop the Uchiha massacre so we can be friends before Sasuke turns all angst-y, and Naruto and I can support him.

2: Get Sasuke away from the Uchiha district when the massacre happens so he would not be so traumatised (if massacre happens).

3: Stay friends for life, become awesome ninja and kick Orochimaru's, Obito's and Madara's asses.

4: Get Tenzo _the fuck away_ from Orochimaru ASAP.

5: Get Orochimaru/Kabuto to teach me the impure resurrection technique so I can revive the maidens, Lady and Yurei.

* * *

 **OMAKE**

 **Adventures of the Gang**

 _Pt. 5: Kiyoshi_

 _By: Shinda-Shikai_

Kiyoshi breathed in slowly, the conversation he'd had with Junko replaying in his head.

" _Kiyoshi, I need you to track down a certain man. He looked like a ninja, he had blond hair with a yellow and black jester hat and tights, and he also wore a black trench coat. He had three kids with him. I think he might be able to help us when the time comes."_

" _But Junko, from what Takeshi, Yurei, Emi and Eri were saying he was dangerous and hardly sounds like the type of person to help a bunch of gutter rats."_

Junko had smiled at him, eyes like steel.

" _He left a book with a note. The others didn't notice what was written on the back of the note that Yurei read out. It's a name. I think it might be a way to contact him."_

Kiyoshi had taken the note, immediately recognising the name.

Takumi Sato.

"… _I see," he'd murmured. "We'll need all the help we can get to get out of here, however we are going to need to be careful. I know of this man; he only deals with the highest-security people, famous or extremely dangerous ninja. He's an ex-Konoha ninja, but he is not listed in any bingo books because the Leaf are too ashamed of his defection. This jester man you're talking about is most certainly dangerous if he has access to Takumi."_

Junko had nodded, eyes as cold and hard as steel. She read between the lines; she knew that asking Kiyoshi to get into contact with this Takumi man and subsequently the strange jester man was a massive risk to him.

But she was willing to take that risk, and thus Kiyoshi was where he was now; hidden in the eerily silent foliage of the forest outside the immediate perimeter of the village.

Before him stood a bulky man with rugged features and greasy brown hair.

"You said you were in contact with Takumi?" Kiyoshi asked, his voice soft but firm.

The man nodded agitatedly.

"Kid, I already told you I passed on your message to Takumi and he got a response from your contact. Now give me the goods and I'll hand you the reply.

Kiyoshi nodded slowly. The price for this transaction was a hefty one; getting in contact with someone as reputable as Takumi was extremely expensive, especially when he had few things working for him in the first place. Kiyoshi had had to save for weeks working overtime as an errand boy and go-between much like the man before him, and even then he'd had to raise his prices.

The response to his increased rates had caused outrage but no one dared harm him as he was an invaluable resource. He did, after all, have a reputation as one of the most reliable errand boys and an attack against him was an attack against his other clients who used him religiously. Plus, he had raised the prices only enough that his clients were still willing to pay for his services.

Slowly, he handed the bag in his hand to the man, and the man thrust a single card in his direction.

"Nice doing business with ya kid," the man smiled a foul smile with yellowed teeth.

Kiyoshi took the card, ignoring the man as he checked the contents of the bag before disappearing.

The card in his hands was a joker card, a twisted face grinning up at him devilishly.

On the back, a tiny note was attached. Kiyoshi took it off and unraveled it.

'Keep this card. When the time is right, channel chakra into it.'

It was signed with a little peace sign.

Kiyoshi frowned at the card, tucking it securely in his pocket. His fists clenched at his side.

The card gave no indication of the price of the jester man's services.

That was not a good sign, but when the time came it would likely be a risk they would need to take

* * *

 _Song: Requiem: Lacrimosa_

 _By: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_

* * *

 **Check my DeviantArt, I posted a pic of the 'Demonic Duo'**

 **Question:**

 **Who is your favourite character from the Gang (not including Naruto or Sasayaki of course)?**


	13. PART I

PART I

 _Sweet Lies_

\~*~/

~An Inevitable Truth~

 **All living things house souls.**

You wish to know why I identify you humans as animals.

Whether souls be from plants, animals or insects, it makes no difference. I make each unique of course, but in the end they are all just souls.

Humans are simply animals, which are simply vessels for souls. You may try to distinguish yourselves, but your attempts are laughable.

~Denial is a Sad Thing~

 **Humans are so far from divine beings**

{***}

Whilst I Recounted

dolphin taught tricks - fox grew suspicious – fan-clan answered wrong – crow found a murder – rabbit found fire - sheep shaved again – snake poisoned duck - monkey fell from the tree – hawk caught rabbit

{***}

You want _more?_ Even after I just explained what has come to pass? I suppose you are merely relatively intelligent animals, I can't expect you to comprehend. But no matter, I will continue to indulge you.


	14. Haunted House

Naruto's eyes were wide, staring at one of the few people he had come to call a friend. How had it come to this?

The streets ran red, spattered with dewy crimson. The moon was high, a perfect disk of bright white. Before him stood someone he had come to cherish, illuminated by crisp rays of moonlight. Behind him, Sasa-chan was screaming something to him.

But everything around them seemed to fade away as the person's eyes bled into red, and all he could feel was the pulse of his own rapidly beating heart, all he could hear were his own wheezing breaths.

 _How did we get mixed up in this?_

If he had to pinpoint the exact moment, he would say it was that day when the black haired boy with the cockatoo hair came bulldozing into their lives, not long after he left the orphanage to move into the apartment Sasa-chan managed to get.

Two years ago.

* * *

"Emi?"

"Yea?"

"How are you going with that new trick?"

"Great! Check it out, I can throw this card through the wall!"

"How about you, Eri?"

"I'm almost there."

"Good. I want to borrow the book for a while, if you don't mind. The chakra strings section looks interesting."

"Sure Junko, go ahead."

* * *

The morning was foggy, mist curled in the air with each heaving breath. My clothes felt soaked through from both sweat and moisture.

I stared up into the vast expanse of whiteness, the condensation on the ground further soaking into my clothes.

"You're becoming pretty damn quick," Yugi-sensei commented with a shit-eating grin. I groaned as I slowly dragged myself to my feet.

"Not quick enough," I sighed. The pranks with Naruto certainly helped, but if I really wanted to be fast I would need leg weights.

Yugi and I had been 'sparring' – and that basically meant she got to use me as a punching bag for an hour. She'd set me two goals to achieve during our spar; create four chains simultaneously at some point and use something unconventional in the environment as a weapon.

I had managed both. Well, I suppose throwing dirt at her face wasn't that original, but apparently it passed as unusual enough.

"Have you been keeping up with your meditation?" she asked.

I gulped.

"Uh, haha of course I have!" I laughed nervously.

Nope, I hadn't given it a second thought after the day she'd ordered me to do it.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Next lesson we'll be looking at some of the best ways to _break bones,_ " she said with a smile that looked positively devilish.

Inwardly I screamed, but outwardly I assumed a blank façade. After all, as much as I could get away with in terms of emotions with Yugi, I didn't want to push it.

"I see," I said as coolly as I could manage. "Well, I better be off now…"

Needless to say, I was dreading next lesson. But I didn't have time to worry about that; after all, I had to tell the Gang about my new apartment.

* * *

"YOU GOT A 'PARTMENT?" Takeshi shrieked.

I had called a meeting, and the members of the Gang crowded around me in awe except Naruto who was still at the academy.

I grinned and sheepishly rubbed the back of my head.

"Yea, well I asked for a double apartment for me and Naruto but I only got the one because Naruto is still meant to be at the orphanage, so we'll have to share…"

"That's awesome! We should hold our meetings there, this place is kind of shi- er, crap," Emi said, hastily correcting herself.

Simultaneously we glanced around at the old courtyard that had served as our base for all these years. It was surrounded by buildings, only a small, shady alley being the way to access this plot of land. The place became steadily more littered every time we came here, the patrons in the bar next to it having an unfortunate habit of throwing their rubbish over the wall.

One day it would be overflowing with beer bottles and trash, I was sure.

"The problem being that their apartment is in the western sector in the village," Kiyoshi pointed out in a drawl. "It would take much too long to get there for every meeting."

"Plus, this place has been our base for years and has never failed us - I don't see why we should give it up," Junko added, glaring at Emi, and then Eri too for good measure.

Junko, ever the traditional one. Then again, she had created the Gang so we couldn't really dispute her.

Emi and Eri exchanged glances, rolling their eyes the moment Junko looked away.

"Anyway, I'm going to join Naruto at the academy. See you!"

With the arduous task of informing the Gang complete, I made my way back to the academy.

* * *

"And just _where_ have you _been_?" Iruka yelled the moment I stepped through the door.

"A black cat crossed my path," I said with an innocent smile. "So I got kidnapped and ended up in this really creepy organisation which is forcing me to train with this lady who's-"

"Just go to your seat," Iruka interrupted with a sigh. "You remind me of that man called Hatake…"

A couple of kids giggled at me, including a certain pinkette, but I dutifully ignored them.

I whistled innocently and took a seat next to Naruto, who was oblivious to the world reading the scroll on fuuinjutsu.

This was going to be a boring couple of hours.

Lunch, however, turned out to be another matter entirely.

* * *

"Hey, is that Mizuki-sensei?" Naruto asked aloud as he watched said man hurry to leave the school. Kids milled about in the yard, sitting with their various cliques. "Isn't he meant to be on duty?"

"Hey, let's follow him!" I smirked. We giggled excitedly at the prospect. He looked kinda suspicious, after all, though everyone knew Mizuki was one of the nicest teachers in the school.

Well, almost everyone.

We jumped the gate after he closed it behind him, shadowing him as he walked down the street outside the academy. Houses lined the street on the other side, and the only noticeable activity was a group of kids standing out the front of one of the houses.

"Hey, look at that house! I never noticed it before," Naruto pointed to the two-storey house overlooking the academy. Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke, Kiba and Akamaru all stood out the front, clearly arguing about something. They hadn't noticed Mizuki approaching.

"I wonder what they're doing there," I muttered, referring to the group.

 _Is Mizuki going to tell them off?_

The front of the second storey was made up of tinted glass, allowing it an unhindered view of the academy, and also a balcony. The glass, however, was shattered in several places.

It had a botanical garden out the front, though the plants had clearly died some time ago and the koi pond was green with algae. Still, it looked like it had once been extremely modern in comparison to the houses surrounding it, if it weren't for the fact it was overgrown with weeds.

It was creepy, clearly abandoned, with rubbish dumped in the garden from passer-by's. The house was dulled from countless days exposed to the weather, as if no one dared or bothered to come near the place to keep it in good condition.

"Hey kids, what are you doing here? You're meant to be at the academy," Mizuki said as he approached the group.

The five of them turned in surprise and guilt.

"We were just… going," Shikamaru drawled seemingly unperturbed, not even attempting to come up with an excuse. Mizuki raised his eyebrow placidly and watched them leave, their faces red with embarrassment.

Naruto and I, who were hidden behind a trash can, called out quietly to them as they passed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kiba demanded, and I winced and checked to see if Mizuki had noticed but his attention was still focussed on the house.

"Tailing Mizuki-sensei," Naruto said brightly. "What were you guys doing?"

"Kiba dared me to go in to that house," Chouji said uncomfortably. "But the Mizuki-sensei came so…"

"Pfft, as if you would have gone in anyway," Kiba retorted. Chouji shrugged apologetically, munching a chip.

"What's wrong with the house?" I asked, intrigued.

"Father says a missing-nin used to live there. Can't remember who, though," Sasuke said absently. "No one has lived there since, or even gone close. Apparently the guy was a real creeper, and paranoid as hell too. The place is laced with fuuinjutsu that even our best specialists haven't been able to disable and figure out, so no one can get in."

Naruto perked up at the mention of fuuinjutsu, eyes gleaming.

"If that's the case, then why are the windows smashed?" Shikamaru pointed out.

"I think they had to use really strong jutsu to break the windows, but even then anything that is alive cannot enter. You can throw rocks in, but humans can't enter. They think it has something to do with recognising chakra signatures…" Chouji informed us between bites. "So basically only people that the seal recognises can get in."

 _Missing… nin…_

I couldn't help the shudders that ran up my spine.

 _Could it be?_

"Hey- what's Mizuki-sensei doing?" Shikamaru spoke up, drawing our attention to said teacher who was now approaching the house himself.

"Quick, hide!" Naruto hissed, pulling the others behind the bin as Mizuki swept the area with a glance, as if to make sure no one was watching.

I blinked as Mizuki approached the door, which had no handle but was lined with gold left untouched, and carvings of snakes on the rotted wood.

"What is he doing? If he activates the seal, who knows _what_ could happen," Naruto muttered. He went to stand up as if to warn Mizuki, but Kiba grabbed him.

"You idiot! Don't do that unless you want us all to have detention," Kiba whispered furiously.

"He knows what he's doing…" Shikamaru murmured, watching the man with calculating eyes. "It looks like he's done this before."

And the seven of us watched with astonishment as he pushed against the door, an array of ink in odd symbols and patterns briefly appearing on the door before vanishing.

And the door opened.

There was silence as he disappeared into the house.

"Maybe the rumours aren't true…" Sasuke muttered after the shock had somewhat abated.

"No, that was definitely the work of a seal master. You saw those seals appear," Naruto whispered, eyes wide.

"But why would _Mizuki_ have access?" Shikamaru mumbled, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Could the missing-nin and the fuuinjutsu have been a cover story for a hideout? That would explain why everyone believes no one has figured out the fuuinjutsu yet…"

 _Something like Root,_ I thought in my mind. But that didn't explain why _Mizuki_ was involved. He wasn't anyone special, in the old timeline Naruto had beaten him as an academy student. Unless this was an organisation that didn't need man-power, but something else he had.

 _Or maybe something changed this time around…_

"Let's get out of here," Chouji said uneasily.

Despite our curiosity, it was agreed upon that for now there was nothing we could do to investigate further.

"We're definitely going to figure out what's up with that!" Naruto declared. "But for now I'm hungry. Who wants to get ramen?"

Chouji, Shikamaru and Kiba were quick to decline, but curiously Sasuke glanced at me with a gleam in his eye before accepting.

Let's just say, both Naruto and I were taken completely by surprise. We hadn't actually expected anyone to say _yes._

So as a trio we made our way to the trusty Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

It was a surprise when we arrived at the ramen stand, only to find a certain silver-haired ninja already there.

"Kakashi?" Naruto asked in surprise, taking a seat next to him and ordering ramen for the three of us. Sasuke glanced at Kakashi oddly before taking a seat next to Naruto, while I took a seat on Kakashi's other side.

"Maa, shouldn't you be at the academy?" Kakashi drawled tonelessly.

"You wouldn't be here unless you knew we were coming," I retorted.

"Can't a man eat ramen without ulterior motive?" Kakashi asked in mock offense. "Anyway, who's this?" Kakashi's sharp eye turned towards Sasuke.

"This is Sasuke, my new best friend!" Naruto declared.

"Hey!" I yelled. "What about me, huh?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're my _imouto_ now, Sasa-chan!"

Sasuke gaped. Kakashi stared.

"Don't you mean _otouto?_ " Kakashi asked slowly.

 _Oh shit._

I was reeling from two things. Firstly, Naruto had called me his little sister. Secondly, he had let it slip that I am a girl.

"Of course he did," I growled. "I'm a boy, remember Naruto?"

Naruto looked momentarily confused.

"Huh- what? Oh yea, right! Of course I meant that haha! She's my otouto!"

" _He's_ your otouto," Kakashi corrected again, while Sasuke just looked suspicious.

"Yea! That's what I said!" Naruto nodded his head vigorously just as the ramen arrived.

"If you say so," Kakashi drawled, looking at me with a new light in his eyes. "Anyway, I forgot to let you know that the bathroom tap is broken."

"Yea, we noticed," I muttered between slurps.

"I'll have it fixed soon," he added nonchalantly.

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"Kakashi requested an apartment for Sasa-chan!" Naruto said happily. "So we're staying together there now. I ran away from the orphanage and I don't think they've even noticed," he said with a boisterous laugh.

"You're both orphans?" Sasuke asked, actually sounding surprised. I guess it's amazing how little kids pick up on.

"Yea, but we're siblings now! We're family!" Naruto smiled gloriously and I couldn't help grinning back at him.

"I still think I should be the older sibling," I pointed out. "I don't know my real birthday, but I'm way more responsible than you!"

"Oh yea? Even if you were, and you're _not_ , I'm _taller_ than you!" Naruto declared proudly, which was quite an accomplishment considering how short he was. Of course it made it worse for me, since I was literally the shortest person in the whole school.

"Maa maa, does it matter really?" Kakashi asked.

"YES!" we both roared in response.

Kakashi raised his hands in surrender.

"Ok, ok. Anyway, I'll drop around tomorrow to fix the tap. Pakkun wants to meet you too," and before we could ask, he disappeared in a 'poof' of smoke.

The three of us exchanged glances.

"Hey, wanna come see our place?" Naruto asked Sasuke excitedly.

Sasuke shrugged.

"Sure, I'll ask my parents and see if I can come around tomorrow too."

* * *

Meeting Pakkun was an experience, to say the least.

"Kiss my paw," he ordered. The three of us were sitting on the couch in the living room while Kakashi worked on the tap. Sasuke gave him a disdainful sneer, but Naruto and I were all too happy to.

"Wow! A talking dog!" Naruto exclaimed.

I kissed Pakkun's paw repeatedly. "Ah, it's so soft!" I cried happily. "Can I hug you?"

Pakkun looked me up and down momentarily, before nodding.

"But wash your hands first."

I blinked, but rushed to do so. Then I cuddled him with all my strength, grinning.

"Hey, I want to too!" Naruto said, having washed his hands as well. "Stop hogging him!"

"Be careful, pups," Pakkun grunted as we fought over him.

 _Pups?_ I bristled at the term, but then smacked myself inwardly. _Don't comment, otherwise he might not let you pat him!_

Sasuke looked vaguely disgusted at our enthusiasm.

"Cats are better," he mumbled under his breath, to which Pakkun sent him a murderous glare. He glared back.

"I will excuse you as you are uneducated in the way of the pack," Pakkun said haughtily. "That will soon change."

And oh, it did.

* * *

 **Just as an aside it was mentioned in the anime that Mizuki decided to steal the forbidden scroll on Orochimaru's orders (or something like that, I'm a bit hazy on the details).**

 **Question:**

 **Do you like Orochimaru, as a villain or otherwise?**


	15. Chef, indeed!

"Father… why did we really come to the land of Hot Water? Is it because of my eyes?"

"So sharp, Koichi-kun! How you impress me. Well, let me tell you a story… the story of our clan."

* * *

Class began as usual.

Until it didn't.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?"

He was so polite, for a moment it didn't compute that _Sasuke_ had just said that.

Naruto grinned and pulled out the chair next to him in response, the chair that since the first day had been empty.

Until it wasn't.

"Yea, you're my best friend now 'ttebayo! Of course you can."

Sasuke huffed and rolled his eyes ever so slightly before taking the proffered seat. Shikamaru and Chouji, who normally sat in the row in front of ours, looked surprised to find Sasuke had ditched them. Not that he had moved far, mind. Still, they took their usual places in front of us.

"Ok everyone, quiet down! Today we will be looking at measuring chakra in chakra units…"

Iruka's lecture was quickly tuned out so I could focus my attention on Sasuke, who was gesturing to a note he had written.

' _My mother has invited you over to dinner, can you make it on Saturday?'_

My brow creased slightly in a frown.

So, it would seem Mikoto actually _was_ going through with her offer, and had capitalised on the opportunity Sasuke presented by becoming our friends. The question was, was she behind why Sasuke had decided to become friends with us?

Still, this could be good for me as well to have connections with the Uchiha so I could begin planning to stop the massacre.

Naruto bounced excitedly in his seat, nodding vigorously to Sasuke. Well, Saturday we were meant to be doing the rounds for the Gang, but it shouldn't cause too much of a problem.

I grinned and gave Sasuke a thumbs-up.

Time to start becoming the hero, and save the Uchiha clan! I could just imagine it, I would come up with a plan so good I would be famous and people from all around the world would know me as Sasayaki-sama, saviour of clans, bringer of justice, master of-!

An elbow jabbed into my side, cutting off my internal mad laughter.

"Is there something you find funny, Sasayaki-kun?" Iruka demanded, vein throbbing in his temple. I blinked and glanced around to realise that the whole class was staring at me with wide eyes, silent.

Maybe my mad laughter wasn't so internal, after all.

I smiled.

"Nothing Sensei, nothing at all haha! Just, uh, Sakura's pink hair! Yea!"

Sakura blushed furiously and sank down into her seat. I kind of felt bad for her, but I needed _some_ kind of reason to have laughed and her hair was _clearly_ the easiest target.

There was silence for a moment, before the class erupted into whispers and laughter.

"SILENCE!" Iruka roared. "Sasayaki-kun, if you say something so mean again, you'll get detention! Now everyone, please turn to chapter six…"

I breathed out with relief. Crisis diverted.

* * *

"That was mean, what you said about Sakura today," Naruto muttered, squinting at me as we walked home – namely to our new apartment.

I shrugged, but that didn't seem to be enough to appease him. He leaned towards me, squinting even more if that was possible.

"I'll cook you dinner tonight?" I offered to pay for my 'sin'.

Naruto brightened immediately.

"You can cook? Really? Why did you never tell me?"

I grinned slyly.

"Cooking is easy, little bro! Anyone can do it!"

 **-Four Hours Later-**

A plume of smoke erupted from the oven. I whistled happily as I removed the black charcoal from the oven, my eyes watering from the smoke. I resisted the urge to cough as I chopped the chicken up. I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to look like that, but it's not like I had ever cooked before so how would I know?

"Look Naruto, doesn't it look delicious?"

Naruto's face paled as he appeared at the kitchen doorway.

"Isn't it… kind of… burnt?"

"Huh?" I frowned at him and looked back at the chicken. "So? It'll still taste nice, right?"

Naruto gagged. "Have you never had burnt food before? It tastes like ash!"

No, actually I hadn't. Lady was always a good cook, no matter what odd things we brought to her.

I glared at him.

"Don't you appreciate my cooking? I'm a chef now!"

I shoved a plate of charcoal under his nose.

He grabbed it with a disgusted look on his face. I continued to glare at him until he caved, and raised a piece to his mouth.

…

Well, let's just say I'm glad he was the one to try it first.

* * *

"Fugaku-san," I smiled politely and bowed, dragging Naruto down with me. Then I addressed Mikoto and Itachi in an equally formal manner.

Fugaku nodded to us, while Mikoto smiled and showed us in.

Dinner turned out to be a rather… _intimidating_ affair, what with Fugaku eying us frostily whenever Naruto spoke too much or too loudly, or when we didn't eat in the 'proper Uchiha fashion'.

Sasuke, though, was over the moon that he was allowed to invite his first ever friends over to his house, and it showed in his sloppily hidden half-smiles.

He had run us through with his clan's etiquette, but not all of it had stuck, hence Fugaku's annoyance.

Itachi and Mikoto were also seated around the table, Mikoto made polite conversation with us, asking how we were faring at the academy and we told her we were passing.

Fugaku narrowed his eyes dispassionately when we admitted to only 'passing'. Pfft, if only they knew. We didn't even listen in class anyway, we should get an award or something for even being able to pass!

Itachi was mostly silent, until that very moment.

"I may be able to help teach you a few techniques," he said quietly, tonelessly. It took me a moment to process what he had just offered.

"You and Shisui should show us how to do that 'body flicker' technique!" Sasuke exclaimed excitedly.

"Itachi does not have time for such menial activities," Fugaku cut in.

"I believe I will be able to find some spare time, after all is it not important for Sasuke and his friends to prepare for their future?" Itachi responded rhetorically.

Fugaku looked like he was going to reply until Mikoto sent him a look and he closed his mouth and visibly reigned in his anger.

 _Interesting…_

I decided I didn't like Fugaku much. I guess that's why I 'accidentally' tripped over my own feet and splashed hot tea all over Fugaku's traditional attire when pretending to go pour some cold water in it to cool it.

Fugaku was furious, and it was hard not to laugh.

 _Oops, aren't I meant to be making them like me so I can manipulate them in the future?_

… _Eh, this is more fun._

I kept my face apologetic, but Naruto hadn't mastered his manners yet.

He giggled, but luckily Itachi was there to save the day.

"I think it is time you two went home, it is getting late after all."

Fugaku scoffed and stormed off in a refined Uchiha manner, and so we were escorted out by Mikoto, who smiled at us and offered for us to come back anytime to play with Sasuke.

I had a feeling Fugaku wouldn't be too happy about that.

I was proven correct, for the next day we went back. And the day after, and many days in the coming weeks. In fact, whenever we went back to his house he mysteriously disappeared to some 'clan business', and considering how often we ended up going around, it was hard to no _not_ notice. Sasuke wasn't entirely comfortable in the red-light district or with the Gang, and wouldn't join in on our thieving, so hence we ended up at his house more often than not as he quickly integrated himself with our activities.

I could tell he was disappointed whenever we were reminded that Fugaku wouldn't accept us, though it was hard to imagine why he craved acknowledgment from such an asshole.

But then again, it was his father.

The Uchiha clan had everything we could possibly need, all in close proximity too so Naruto and I were more than happy to go over. A library, blank scrolls and ink, a training grounds and Sasuke's spacious room - it's all we could have ever needed.

Not to mention the free food, which was a nice change from having to steal, as our orphan's fund barely covered stationary and clothes, let alone our pranking resources.

Fortunately, the Gang sometimes left us snacks and leftovers when they dropped by at our new apartment, and in return we took to teaching Takeshi and Akemi how to read.

* * *

"Itachi said he will train with me tomorrow and he said I can invite you two as well," Sasuke said to us one day not long after our meeting with the Uchihas, biting into a tomato as he watched us paint on the Hokage Mountain. It was dark out, the stars twinkling above us. Mikoto was probably getting worried about Sasuke.

 _No way am I going to turn down the opportunity to learn from the world's greatest ninja!_

"Cool! E're definitely going," Naruto exclaimed, putting the finishing touches on the nosebleed he had given Hiruzen. I nodded in agreement, painting Tobirama's left eye red.

"Hey Sasuke, why don't you help us?" I asked absently. "Paint something!"

Sasuke looked at me condescendingly.

"As if I would do such a stupid thing," he muttered, crossing his arms haughtily. "Only losers do pranks like this."

"Hey! We're not losers, Sasuke-teme! We're awesome!"

"Yea don't be a pussy," I smirked. "I think he's just scared of getting found out, don't you Naru?"

"Yea!" Naruto crowed, and Sasuke blushed furiously.

"I- that's not-!"

"I guess the village will never know the might of the Uchiha clan," I said with a dramatic sigh. "Just imagine painting the Uchiha clan symbol on this monument… for everyone to see and admire… But you're just too scared aren't-"

In a flash, the red paint and paintbrush disappeared from my hands, and I looked up to see Sasuke painting the outline of the top half of the Uchiha fan across Hashirama's forehead.

I grinned victoriously.

 _Converting Sasuke to the dark side, complete!_

* * *

 **Check out DeviantArt! More Sasa art.**

 **Question:**

 **Are you finding it difficult to remember who the Gang members are, and do you want them included more?**


	16. Sasuke's Suspicions

"En and Mitsuo have a niece, you say?"

"Yes, recently orphaned. Mitsuo figured you might be interested. Their sister recently died, and Chizu, the girl, is five."

"I see. Have her installed in the Sound village, I'm sure she'll make a lovely addition. When she gets older I'll bring her in for study."

Kabuto bowed.

"As you wish, my lord."

* * *

There were few things that could make young Sasuke surprised. Sasayaki's ability was one of them.

"Chains?" he mumbled suspiciously, watching as the white-haired boy (debatably a boy, considering how Naruto had referred to him/her the other day) threw out a chain and substituted with the log he released from the ends of one of them.

That chain style of his was unusual, not anything he'd seen or heard of before. In saying that, if Sasayaki knew his brother he was definitely someone of interest, perhaps great strength too –

"OUCH!" Sasayaki hollered as he miscalculated the swing of his own chain, causing it to arc and wrap around him before the pointy end slapped him in the face.

 _Maybe not so strong, after all… On the other hand, it could be a façade. No one is that stupid, surely._

Sasuke winced slightly, while Naruto burst out laughing along with Shisui. Itachi remained impassive, the picture of a perfect shinobi as usual.

"Your control over you chains must be improved," he murmured. "Why don't you and Naruto work with Shisui for a bit."

Shisui immediately stopped laughing, his jaw dropping slightly.

"But Itachii-kuuuunnn~" he mock wailed. "You _always_ choose _Sasuke_! What if I wanted to work with him?"

Sasuke hoped the pride didn't show too much on his face, but if the smirk Shisui flashed him was any indication, it was evident.

Itachi was saved from answering as Sasayaki began arguing with him about his blatant favouritism.

Then Itachi turned. Sasuke perked up immediately.

"Sasuke, let's work on some genjutsu."

Sasuke nodded vigorously.

"Ok Nii-san, teach me your best genjutsu!"

Itachi's mouth twitched with the hint of a smile.

"I think we'll start with something a bit simpler, ok Sasuke?"

* * *

"Isn't my brother awesome?" Sasuke boasted for the umpteenth time as they walked to Sasayaki and Naruto's home after a particularly intense session with the two prodigy Uchiha. It was early afternoon, some shops already beginning to shut down. Still, people milled about chatting, though not as many as a weekday or Saturday.

It was Sunday.

"Well how would we know, considering he never spares a second for us!" Sasayaki complained loudly. It had been several months since Shisui and Itachi had started giving them lessons on a semi-regular basis.

"Eh, Shisui is way cooler than Itachi anyway," Naruto stated blandly, hands behind his head, eyes squinted shut as he walked. In Sasuke's opinion, he looked rather stupid, not that he would tell him that. It was funnier to let others come to that conclusion when they saw him.

Sasuke bristled and opened his mouth to rebuke him, but he was interrupted.

"Yo," a deep voice said from behind them, and the three turned to find Kakashi behind them, giving them a close-eyed smile.

 _What's he doing here?_ Sasuke wondered.

"Kakashi!" Naruto yelled, lunging for a hug to which Kakashi stepped aside, causing him to crash to the ground.

Kakashi turned to Sasayaki.

"Happy birthday," he said, and lightning fast he tossed something at Sasayaki's face and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

He fumbled with the object, luckily catching it before it fell to the ground. It was a gift, sloppily wrapped with plain green wrappings.

"It's my birthday?" he asked at the same time Naruto jumped to his feet, clearly horrified.

"Sasa-chan, it's your birthday!" Naruto cried. "I totally forgot! I'm soo sorry!"

 _His birthday is today?_ Sasuke made a mental note to add the birthday on the eighth of February to his calendar.

Sasayaki, however, seemed unaffected that Naruto had forgotten as he ripped into the present. Sasuke hastily blurted out a congratulations, though he was ignored in favour of the stuffed dog toy that looked suspiciously like Pakkun, though slightly smaller.

Sasuke stared at it disdainfully.

 _Surely Sasayaki won't like that, it's just a dumb toy._

"MINE!" Sasayaki all but squealed, throwing himself onto the ground as she cuddled the toy dog, and several people stared as they walked past.

Sasuke also stared.

 _What was I thinking, of course he would pretend to like it, the weirdo. He is_ clearly _acting._

Sasayaki was clearly an enigma, and he was determined to get to the bottom of… well, him. And he was getting closer, he knew he was. He was picking up on some strange things; firstly, the fact Sasayaki knew Itachi, despite the fact Sasuke was sure Itachi would have told him he knew one of his classmates. It was only by chance he had found out they knew each other, otherwise he would have been oblivious.

Secondly, he hung out with Naruto, the one No One Goes Near. Thirdly, he knew Kakashi somehow despite the fact he is in no way related and just a common street rat. And after a bit of digging, Sasuke found out Kakashi was a rather famous ninja that actually had a sharingan in one eye. Why would he have anything to do with him, let alone help Sasayaki and Naruto get an _apartment?_

Fourthly, Sasayaki tended to disappear for a day or so on a weekly basis doing training with some mysterious teacher. He only knew _that_ because he had noticed his disappearances when he began hanging out with them, and normally those two went _everywhere_ together. When he had asked Naruto, the blond had shrugged and told him it was his secret business, learning to use his chains or something.

Which was another thing, what was with that chain style? He understood the usefulness of the CC chains, since they didn't require much chakra to manipulate and things could be sealed into the end of them such as logs to substitute with, or explosive seals inscribed on them as Naruto had once done (though when Sasayaki had used them, it had destroyed the chains so he'd opted to only do that in emergencies), but what was the point in his actual chain technique?

As far as he could see, the chains he made were made of pure chakra which would be a massive drain on his reserves, and on top of that they didn't seem to have any special properties from what he had observed. Sure, it was cool to be able to create chains at random points but why not other jutsu? It just didn't seem efficient.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

He would get his answers, he knew he would. It might just take some time.

* * *

It was a day in their third year at the academy, about midway through the year. Naruto was, as usual, oblivious to Iruka's lecture as he was embedded in his sixth book on fuuinjutsu, by one Minato Namikaze.

Shikamaru turned around when Iruka began writing on the board.

"Hey Sasuke, who is that group in the red light district that Naruto and Sasayaki are teaching jutsu to?"

Sasuke frowned, his eyes narrowing. He didn't tend to hang out with the Gang, they were much too dirty and uncouth for his tastes. His parents would be horrified. Still, how did Shikamaru know that Naruto and Sasayaki taught them? The six of them were discreet in all their dealings, including their lessons from Naruto and Sasuke. Even Takeshi, the youngest apart from Naruto and Sasayaki, knew not to go blabbing.

From what Sasuke had seen, Junko, the leader, always made sure to beat it into their heads the importance of discretion in all aspects of life. Akemi couldn't talk anyway considering his muteness, and Emi and Eri would know of the risks. Kiyoshi was shrouded with mystery so Sasuke was sure he wasn't the type to talk.

Which meant Shikamaru had done some of his own information gathering. Perhaps he was also suspicious about Sasayaki, or perhaps the mystery of Naruto the supposed demon.

"Friends," he replied carefully. "Why do you ask?"

Shikamaru shrugged, though despite his nonchalant demeanour his eyes were serious.

"Just tell them to be careful. You don't know who could be watching, and you know teaching chakra manipulation to civilians is illegal, right?"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, and he glanced at Naruto but the boy was dead to the world.

He hadn't realised it was illegal. But if he thought about it, it did make sense. Teaching such dangerous things to civilians could end badly for them, and it also meant the village could lose track of who was proficient in chakra-handling and who wasn't, thus a security risk.

Sasuke nodded slightly in Shikamaru's direction, despite the fact the boy had clearly been doing some sneaking around. Not that he could talk; that would be rather hypocritical. He was just thankful Shikamaru had brought it to his attention.

"Even if it is, we don't really care," Naruto suddenly spoke up, his eyes still riveted to the book. Maybe he wasn't so oblivious after all.

"You should," Shikamaru drawled, not at all seeming surprised at Naruto's attentiveness. "You are a well-known figure Naruto, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a watch on you at all ti-"

Suddenly Shikamaru cut off, his eyes widening as if he'd had a sudden realisation. Chouji stopped munching on a chip to look at him.

"What is it?" he asked his best friend with a frown. But Chouji was ignored.

"Where is Sasayaki now?" Shikamaru asked, and Sasuke felt his guard rising.

"That's none of your business," Naruto cut in, finally shutting his book. "And why do you care so much? Why have you been snooping around?"

Shikamaru and Chouji were probably the closest out of the rest of the class to the three of them, but that was only because they actually talked to them and didn't avoid them all the time. They had never done any outside activities with them, except the occasional prank.

"Sasayaki is a bit like your brother Itachi, isn't he Sasuke? You're always complaining about how he isn't around enough… and I heard that he's a prodigy," Shikamaru continued, abandoning his previous line of questioning. He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

Sasuke really wasn't sure what Shikamaru was trying to get at, but before he or Naruto could ask Shikamaru turned back to the front just as Iruka faced them again.

If he thought about it though, Sasayaki really was like Itachi, and he could tell Naruto was thinking the same from the odd expression on his face.

Naruto didn't pick up his book for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

Sasayaki hadn't stopped carrying the pug around since the day he'd got it, despite the laughs the other kids in the class deliberately didn't hide at his expense. Sasuke honestly couldn't understand his infatuation with the (in his opinion, ugly) stuffed toy Sasayaki had aptly named 'Puggy'. Though he supposed that as far as facades go, it really worked to lower people's guards and opinions so maybe it was a genius move, after all.

"Is it really necessary to have that here?" Sasuke sighed as they crouched outside the mysterious house Mizuki had entered all that time ago behind a leafless bush. They were on watch while Naruto studied the fuuinjutsu around the house, trying to find a way to crack it, as had become their routine every Monday morning before the two would go and do tasks with the Gang, while Sasuke would go to the academy. Junko had decided to let the two take Monday off to help the Gang do their tasks since they really needed all the help they could get, and Sasayaki and Naruto being away almost every day was a strain on them.

Sasayaki turned his head to sneer at him.

"Excuse _you,_ Puggy is amazing and I can't leave him alone otherwise he'll get sad! Don't you know _anything?_ "

Sasuke sighed, resisting the urge to grit his teeth, and rubbed his face exasperatedly.

"I'm leaving, academy starts soon," he muttered, and he got up and walked off. The two would finish up soon anyway.

It was an hour before the academy ended when Sasuke got called up by Iruka after Mizuki had come into the class to whisper a message to him. Then he was told he needed to go home immediately. When asked, Iruka just shook his head clueless, having been given no more details than that. Sasuke hurried home, wondering what could possibly be so important. He soon found out.

Shisui was dead.

* * *

 **I'm opting out of describing her training in too much detail, including the meditating she is doing. I think you can all imagine what she is doing with the Uchiha and Yugi, it will be revealed later anyway. A bit of rough time skipping here since I think I've spent way too much time on the trio as kids.**

 **Question:**

 **What genre(s) would you say this fic is so far? E.g. action/adventure, comedy, friendship etc.**


	17. Blame

A child can lie.

Brainwash them.

* * *

It was an odd moment, waking up from that dream. Odd only in hindsight, for I knew nothing of what had come to pass at the time.

The dream retold the day Shisui taught me the theory behind three simple techniques, sound, smell and sight distortion genjutsu, followed by the time he congratulated me on learning to do the substitution no-handed. Yugi had me practicing it for a very long time until I had it perfected.

And then, there was the memory where he gave me resistance seals only three days ago, because he knew of my goal to become _fast_. My plan to become so fast I could save Tenzo and then run away immediately, not that I'd specified Tenzo.

I wore the seals religiously, hoping to set them to level 10 in the near future, though for now level 1 was as much as I could handle on a daily basis. It felt like I was wading through thick air all the time, so I could only imagine what level ten would be like.

"You're a smart cookie, Sa-kun," he'd said, grinning. "There should be no shame in running away when you're outmatched. Maybe you'll even become as fast as me!"

And then I opened my eyes.

* * *

" _Killed by the ones he was helping train. Poor Mikoto's son is probably getting manipulated too…"_

" _Shisui was a prodigy, such a shame…"_

" _Who else would have done it but those two demons? They must have decided they'd used him enough!"_

" _Terrible, terrible…"_

The whispers were barely heard as I rushed into the Uchiha compound with Naruto. We'd had to verify what Kakashi had told us not minutes ago. _Had to._

 _Shisui is dead._

 _What does this mean? I thought the massacre was ages away!_

It was still possible the massacre happened in the far future. Surely not so soon.

 _Maybe I should just kill Itachi,_ I thought hysterically as we arrived before Sasuke's house.

Now there was an idea, but it probably wouldn't solve anything anyway. Danzo would just get someone else to do the deed. No, it would be much more complicated than that, this much I knew.

 _But, but maybe that's just it! Perhaps I should kill Danzo!_

No, that was just as ludicrous. I would not be able to defeat him at my current level.

Naruto and I basically threw down our shoes and rushed into the house before even knocking.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, and he was crying too, his eyes rimmed red.

And we found Sasuke, curled up in his bed. The house was eerily silent.

My mind stuttered to a halt as I saw him, lifting his head weakly to look at us.

"They blame you," was all he said.

* * *

Shisui didn't have many friends, it turned out. Not many he was very close to, including family. His parents had long since passed away, and his life had been the simple truth of a ninja; discreet, lonesome and deadly, made even more so by his prodigal status. In fact, his closest friend was Itachi, followed by Sasuke, Naruto and myself.

This was something of a shock to me. We hadn't seen him that often, but for what time I had known him I'd grown attached. Shisui was extraverted, funny and sometimes ridiculous. A ball of sunshine. It was hard to imagine he had such a limited circle of friends.

Well, now the black clouds of Danzo's ugly face had blocked him out forever.

And Naruto and I got the blame.

" _Itachi would never have done that to his cousin! Nor would poor little Sasuke. He must be traumatised."_

Now that there were other people in Shisui's life rather than just Itachi, there were other suspects for his murder. And obviously if anything involves Naruto, of course all the blame will be pinned on him. And that includes me, because apparently we now count as a single entity.

But there was no conclusive evidence, so luckily the Hokage couldn't pass judgement for anything we hadn't done, but nonetheless the suspicion of the masses persisted.

But we only had to endure a couple of days of angry whispers and flying objects, because _it_ happened

* * *

Before that though, Sasuke, Naruto and I attempted to distract ourselves from what had happened. That meant we returned to the mystery of Mizuki and the Haunted House.

An explosion occurred behind Sasuke and I as we stood on lookout, and Naruto screamed. We turned to find him thrown to the ground, the front of his black shirt singed.

"Naru! Are you ok?" I yelled, dashing towards him, while Sasuke's eyes rested on the hole in the haunted house where the door once was.

Naruto groaned as he sat up, using me to lever himself to his feet.

"I- I think so," he mumbled, rubbing his bruised arms tenderly. "But who cares anyway, I think I managed to deactivate the seals! Though it wasn't meant to explode…"

The three of us turned to stare apprehensively at the entrance.

"All this work is about to pay off, it better be worth it," Sasuke muttered.

Naruto nodded. "It will be, dattebayo!"

And together we stepped towards the rugged hole that now served as the entrance.

It was dark inside.

"I will go first," I offered like the extremely brave soul I am, squeezing Puggy tightly to my chest. And then I stepped forwards, into the darkness that seemed to swallow me whole.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a glance, and Naruto visibly gulped.

But then they, too, followed me into the inky blackness.

…

It was cold. The air was stale, and smelled like old wax.

"Has anyone got a light?" Naruto asked, and I heard the rustle of him scratching the back of his head.

Sasuke fumbled towards the direction of the large windows at the front of the house and pulled the blinds, letting light stream in. I blinked at the sudden brightness, my eyes adjusting.

I gaped at the interior, turning my head slowly to take everything in.

It was cosy. There was a large hearth that made up a large portion of the far wall, three plush cream couches set out before it, sitting on a dark red carpet and before a round table.

In the middle of the room was a flashy triangular table that could sit six people.

To my left was clearly a kitchen and a bathroom, and to my right was a small square room that appeared to be a study, and adjoined to that a room that seemed like an entertainment room. I could see bookshelves, a canvas with paintbrushes neatly set beside it, and an instrument case that appeared to be for a flute sitting on a chair before a music stand.

There was a spiral staircase leading upstairs directly to my right, too. The place had red walls with paintings adorning each wall. Portraits.

I recognised some. Tobirama being one of them, but to my shock I also recognised Madara, and two people, a man and a woman, that looked distinctly like Orochimaru.

 _I knew it._

Orochimaru must have lived here before he left. But why the pictures of Madara and Tobirama? I sighed and shook my head in confusion.

The place was oddly clean, not a speck of dirt, mould or general untidiness to be seen despite the fact it had been (supposedly) abandoned for many years. In fact, it looked new.

"Wow, it's so… clean!" I exclaimed.

"That was a mechanism of the fuuinjutsu on the door," Naruto mumbled. "It had a preservation etching, meaning this place won't accumulate dust or anything."

 _Huh, cool. I want one of those!_

"Wait, you don't think Mizuki is here right now, do you?" he added lowly.

"If he was, he would have left or shown himself already," Sasuke drawled, crossing his arms.

"Well, now that we've destroyed the door, he's definitely going to know someone was here," I pointed out.

Naruto, who had begun examining every corner of the house, suddenly called us over.

"Hey, check it out! It looks like a summoning seal," Naruto called, pointing at the scroll. It was innocently unrolled on the low round table between the couches.

Naruto reached forward as if to activate it.

"WAIT!" I basically screamed, throwing myself at him. We slammed into one of the couches.

"What are you doing, dobe? Who knows _who or what_ that scroll summons?" Sasuke hissed, luckily seeing reason. "Did you forget a missing-nin used to live here?"

"Yea, but Mizuki comes here so it can't be anything bad," Naruto said, his eyes squinted with displeasure.

"Naru, Mizuki could be _evil_ ," I stage-whispered. _I_ knew he was.

Naruto giggled at the thought, clearly taking my very serious warning as a joke _._

Just then a shadow fell over us, a silhouette appearing in the doorway.

"How did you three get in here?" a voice asked quietly behind us.

The three of us jumped at the sound. Speak of the devil and he shalt appear. There he stood, a kind smile on his face and his eyes closed in that anime-esque way. The academy started in an hour, he shouldn't be here yet! Or maybe that was exactly why.

"M-M-Mizuki-sensei!" Naruto squeaked. "We were just, ah, looking around at this _really_ weird creepy haunted house." He laughed nervously.

Sasuke came to stand beside Naruto and I as we hastily stood from where we'd landed on the couch.

"Mizuki-sensei I have some questions for you. Who does this scroll summon?" Sasuke asked, dropping all pretenses.

Mizuki stepped into the house.

"That is not something I can answer, Sasuke-kun. Now will the three of you please go to class?"

"But class doesn't start for another hour!" I pointed out boldly. "I think it's about time _you_ started answering some questions, _sensei._ I think you're up to no-"

Sasuke placed a hand lightly on my shoulder, and I turned to see him shaking his head. I trailed off in confusion.

"We are going, sensei. See you in class," Sasuke said, dragging Naruto and I out with him to our confusion. Mizuki watched as closely as we passed him and hurried off the property, back onto the road.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Naruto asked. "We could have gotten answers from him!"

"Think about it, he never would have given us any. Clearly whatever goes on in there is classified. If we want to know, we'll just have to go back ourselves another day, but we'll need to be prepared for anything."

I blinked in surprise. That actually made a lot of sense.

"Alright, dattebayo! We'll have to be extra prepared, because now Mizuki knows we're poking around he'll be on guard!" Naruto shouted.

I nodded along.

"Ok, let's make a plan!"

* * *

Our plan never did get put into place, sadly. But we would go back there. Just not for a long time.

* * *

 _It_ happened only a day after Mizuki found us in the house. I thought I had months at least, but in reality, I'd only had a few days. I suppose I should never have trusted my memory of the anime.

Sadly, I didn't really think of that at the time. So it took me by surprise, and it ended worse than I ever could have imagined.

* * *

 **A/N** I made a facebook account called Justice Caws - links on my profile. It'll mostly be for art, but I'll post info about this fic up there too, update dates etc.

Also, more art of WoW on DA! Check it out~

 **Question:**

 **Do you want to see more Danzo?**


	18. Massacre

It started with a Whisper.

Second came the Uchiha.

It ended with the Demon.

* * *

After helping Junko and Akemi pack up the charity stand after the academy and giving Kiyoshi, Emi and Eri a brief overview of how to wall walk, Naruto and I headed over to Sasuke's to check in on him. We didn't like leaving him alone for long after Shisui had… you know.

 _But mostly we're going to eat Mikoto's awesome cooking,_ I thought shamelessly, not that I would say it aloud.

Except we never made it. We walked down the quiet streets of the Uchiha clan ( _eerily_ quiet), the moon bathing traditional buildings in dark light. Everything seemed to be in hues of grey, all colour gone with the light of the sun.

"Hey, looks like someone is following in our footsteps!" Naruto said with a giggle, pointing at the paint that had been splashed crudely on the walls and paths of the clan. Lots of it in fact.

"Yea, someone must have really held a grudge," I smirked, amazed at the quantity. "You don't think it was Sasuke finally seeing the light, do you?"

There was a soft trickle of water down the drainpipes on the side of the cobblestone, a sound one wouldn't normally hear in the bustling activity of a clan.

We heard something else, too. An almost indecipherable sound. Naruto heard it first, and his footsteps on the grey cobblestone stopped as he turned his head in confusion.

"Hey… do you hear that?" he asked, and I stopped too, a couple of steps ahead. It was deadly silent, not even the whistling of wind could be heard.

 _Where is everyone?_

I strained my ears, and I heard it.

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

 _Drip._

I turned my head slowly, searching for the source of the noise.

My hands began trembling for reasons I couldn't understand, and my breaths began to come quickly and harshly.

 _Why is it so quiet?_

Naruto began walking towards a house, the door strangely slightly ajar.

 _What is that sound?_

Naruto knocked on the door and called out, but there was no response, so he shrugged and pushed the door open.

My heart tightened painfully, and oh god what was happening to me-

 _Why-_

His face seemed blank as he stared at something in the house, but in hindsight I would realise his expression had frozen in place.

Then he screamed.

And oh _god I was_ crying _I_ couldn't _breathe-_

"Na-Na-Naru we n-need to g-go now!" I managed between heaving breaths.

 _Calm down calm down CALM DOWN-_

Naruto was staring at me in shock, confusion and fear as I stumbled towards him, my body attempting to double over. His mouth was agape, as if he wanted to say something and yet couldn't get the words out.

 _I can't do this I can't I'm going to die the massacre help help HELP!_

"RUN!" I _screamed_ , and oh god my body was shaking so much.

He didn't question it. We ran, fast, so fast that I tripped yet I got back to my feet despite the grazes and stones lodged in my knees.

And I thought we would make it, I really did. The exit to the clan was only metres away, we would be ok, we would-

Naruto abruptly halted.

"Wait! What about Sasuke?" he cried.

I glanced about frantically, and how hadn't we noticed it before, it hadn't rained in weeks why was there water in the drainpipes-

And my eyes followed the flow of the oddly dark water, the colour almost hidden by the night.

But if I looked close enough, strained my eyes, the rays of moonlight revealed to me a touch of crimson.

And the paint splattered everywhere _oh god that wasn't paint-_

"SASUKE, WHERE ARE YOU!" Naruto _screamed,_ his voice no doubt heard across the entire clan.

I lost it.

I punched him in the face, _hard._

"YOU IDIOT!" I roared, but the damage had been done.

But it wasn't Itachi who appeared between us and the exit. It was someone else. Someone with a mask.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" his voice was deep, his one red eye regarding us with curiosity.

Naruto, clutching his face from where I had punched him, hard. He was gasping, eyes wide and confused.

My body was still out of control, tears streaming down my face and uncontrollable sobs leaving my body, but my mind cleared.

 _What does one do in a situation like this?_

It wasn't a question I could answer, but it didn't matter anyway because just then Sasuke appeared at the end of the main street we had originally been running down, heading towards us.

He was in a similar state to Naruto and I, his eyes blown wide with confusion, fear, anger, his mouth open to breathe in deep gulps of air as he ran.

"Everyone's dead! Everyone's _dead! Get out!_ " he yelled as he dashed towards us.

"OTHER WAY!" I screeched, grabbing Naruto and rushing towards Sasuke, away from Obito.

Of course things had to get worse. Itachi was the next to appear, just as we met Sasuke in the middle of the road he was there, blocking us. Now we were blocked from both sides.

"Nii-san! You're alive, oh thank god! What happened, everyone's dead!" Sasuke cried, going to step towards him but at the same time I grabbed his arm to stop him, he noticed the sharingan spinning in Itachi's eyes, and the blood all over his ANBU clothes.

"Foolish little brother…" he said in that deep voice of his that reached all ears despite it barely being a whisper.

The three of us huddled together in a triangle, a bundle of quaking bodies and confusion.

"Nii-san…?" Sasuke whispered, his breath caught.

 _What should we do?_

I honestly had no clue. At this point it seemed we were going to die or be tortured.

"Is that your little brother, Itachi?" Obito asked, barely five metres away.

"Who are you, and what do you want!?" Naruto yelled at Obito.

Obito shrugged slowly, and eyed us contemptuously. "If you won't kill the two additions, _I_ will," he said, looking at us but clearly it was aimed at Itachi.

The three of us froze.

"Very well," Itachi said softly, and he closed his eyes slowly. Suddenly Naruto broke away from our little triangular formation, running towards him.

 _NO YOU IDIOT!_

I attempted to catch his arm, but I was too late.

"Stop, Naruto!" Sasuke cried, but Naruto halted only seconds before he reached Itachi.

"You didn't do this, did you? You must be under _that guy's_ genjutsu!" Naruto reasoned, jerking his thumb over his shoulder to point at Obito. "Snap out of it, Itachi!"

I tore after him, just as Itachi's eyes began to open.

"NARUTO! DON'T LOOK HIM IN THE EYE DON'T-"

And it seemed so sudden, the moment Itachi's eyes opened and the moment everything changed.

...

Short breaths.

 _It will be ok._

 _It will be ok._

 _It will-_

"NARUTO!"

But there was no Naruto. There were only two white discs on red and black and four waving tails and pressure pReSUre _PreSURe PRESSURE-_

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Sasuke screamed, but I couldn't answer because I couldn't breathe the air was too thick. I was choking on pure animalistic unsaturated chakra permeating the air.

 _I – I can't do anything!_

I couldn't even stand being near it, let alone stopping it with my chains! On top of that, I'd never had a chance to practice on an actual beast! The most I could do was throw a few chains around. Yugi still had me learning chakra foundations and building up my pitiful reserves, not wanting me to move on until I had those covered.

I heard laughter start behind me, starting low, building up until it was like a raucous wailing of crows. Obito. But I couldn't look behind me because I was entranced by the beast before me, raising its claws as if examining itself.

And then it _roared,_ and just as suddenly it was gone. A gust of wind so strong it knocked Sasuke and I over presumably followed in its wake, and just as quickly Obito's laughter was cut off and he was thrown through several buildings.

Itachi moved towards it, bringing his hands together into a hand-seal, but the kyuubi's attention turned towards Sasuke and I.

I moved on instinct, dropping my resistance seals to level 0 and throwing myself in front of Sasuke as he lay, propped up on his forearms, gaping at the monster leaping towards him.

I had no chance to create chains, no time to do _anything_ except throw my arms up in front of my face. And my right arm paid the price.

The Beast didn't even need to do anything but grab my arm, its burning shell of chakra doing the work for it. The skin of my arm shrivelled and blackened as in mere seconds the chakra spread like a wave to the tips of my fingers and all the way up to my shoulder, bringing searing agony in its wake. I lost all coherent thought, simply trying to tear myself away even if it meant _ripping my arm off._

And then it threw me away, like nothing more than a rag doll. The cobblestone rushed to meet me, and I landed in an awkward roll, biting back a cry as the impact seemed to set the nerves of my right arm on _fire_.

The pain, oh god the pain. I looked down. Oh god oh god _oh goD I COULD SEE WHITE UNDER BLACK FLAKES-_

"ITACHI!" I was forced to look away at Sasuke's yell, and I saw Itachi fighting the kyuubi single-handedly. He had a sword out, and he let loose a jet of water at the Beast.

The kyuubi roared and we watched, transfixed, as the thing opened its' jaws. Wisps of chakra gathered, red and blue alike, forming a floating purple ball of mass above its teeth. Itachi landed on the ground, his eyes narrowed, moving slowly so the beast turned, following his movements. The kyuubi was facing the Uchiha district now, away from the village but facing towards the three of us.

Sasuke and I watched, transfixed as the thing suddenly snapped its jaws around the floating ball and swallowed it. Then it swelled up, its stomach bulging into it was ten times as large as it originally was.

Itachi moved quickly then, grabbing Sasuke and throwing himself with Sasuke in his arms out of the line of fire.

Then there was light everywhere, as if sucked from the moon itself. A beam of brilliant blinding white shot from the demon's jaw. And it was blazing towards me and I didn't even have time to process what was going to happen. I shut my eyes.

As it turned out, I would live to see another day. Arms wrapped around my torso, and with a split second to spare, my saviour got us both out of the way. There was an odd ringing in my ears as the beam passed mere millimetres from where we were, a sound I never could quite describe. It wasn't loud, yet for several seconds I could hear nothing but the ringing.

I didn't dare open my eyes, and after the sound finally died down I could identify voices. Many voices, heading this way.

"All jounin form the formation for the capture of the kyuubi!" Came the voice of Hiruzen, magnified by a jutsu of some kind.

And relief so intense washed over me, my body finally let everything catch up to it and I knew no more.

* * *

"Danzo."

"Hiruzen."

The two men in question stared at each other standing metres apart, nothing between them but old tiles and flickering shadows. A torch behind of them lit their silhouettes in a glow of orange.

There was a silence that stretched between them, the only sound the rustle of robes as a cigar was raised to Hiruzen's lips, already glowing.

"The Uchiha clan is gone," the man finally said after a plume of grey smoke left his lips.

Danzo only stared back expressionlessly, leaning on his cane.

"I assume you wish to discuss the nature of what has occurred?"

Danzo nodded slowly.

"If at all possible, I wish to keep Uchiha Itachi. The destruction the the kyuubi reaped upon the clan destroyed all evidence of the massacre."

Hiruzen nodded, the slightest of smiles upon his lips.

"Ah yes, the situation may be salvageable after all. No one is to blame for this incident, it was simply an irregularity of Naruto's seal."

"No," Danzo interceded tonelessly. "Someone has to go. We must have a spy in the ranks of the Akatsuki. It just cannot be someone as valuable as Itachi."

To the untrained eye, Hiruzen appeared just as expressionless as Danzo. But few would notice the slight drop of his features.

"You know I am right," Danzo continued. "And I have already come up with a solution. With the village people already poisoned against the Uchiha, it would be no difficult task to pin the blame on the sharingan for releasing the Kyuubi."

The hokage's brow creased into a frown. And he took another puff of smoke, clearly decoding Danzo's cryptic suggestion. It couldn't be Itachi, otherwise Danzo was negating himself. It couldn't be Sasuke, he hadn't even unlocked his sharingan yet.

That left-

"Ah," was all Hiruzen said. And he inclined his head ever so slightly, though the tired sigh that escaped his lips did not go unnoticed. "I see. That is… a valid decision. It will be done."

"That is not all I wish to discuss. The jinchuuriki and Usagi require intensive training. That is clear from this incident. I wish to take them full-time under my wing."

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.

"No," he said bluntly, finally a hint of menace appearing in his tone. "You know how I feel about this topic."

Danzo inclined his head, but his eye remained fixed on Hiruzen. The movement threw further shadows over his face, making it seem as if he had no features at all but a gaping pit of blackness, out of which stared a single, lifeless grey eye.

"I believe we can come to a compromise. You know as well as I that with the Mokuton-user gone, we have no immediate defence against the Kyuubi. The village will be even more aggressive to the Kyuubi boy, and the village would be happier to hear he is in an intensive training program to ensure their future security and safety rather than roaming the streets like a ticking time bomb in their eyes."

Hiruzen briefly shut his eyes.

"You have reason, however let me lay out my terms. There is to be no brainwashing, and I wish for them to be able to leave the compound for at least an hour a day to visit whomever they may choose, be it in disguise or otherwise, with no restrictions or followers. They are to be teamed with another student upon graduation and that is when their training will end. I will have it no other way."

Danzo's eye twitched with repressed anger, but his tone remained neutral.

"Have it your way."

Danzo turned away, cane clicking on tiles.

"Oh, and one last thing."

Danzo paused, turning his head back slightly in a sign of politesse, though his bandages covered his would-be visible eye.

"Itachi no longer answers to you."

There was no visible tell, but the brief but intense release of killing intent told Hiruzen all he needed to know. It was with the slightest smug tilt to his mouth that he watched as Danzo walked away from him, his cane clacking falsely with each step, until not even the candle could keep him lit in the narrow passage. The blackness soon swallowed him whole.

And then Hiruzen let out a long, pained sigh.

"Just another day," he murmured, taking one last puff before vanishing without a trace, smoke and all.

* * *

 **A/N:** Phew, that was an intense chapter. Short and sweet or... not so sweet. Whoever is still reading this fic, I love you. You have made my day. My writing is bearable enough to read and that makes me a happy noodle *cough friend quoting cough*.

Reviews = motivation = faster updates! Thanks peeps~

 **Question:**

Who do you think Sasa's saviour is?


	19. Kakashi of the Akatsuki

Imagine fire and ice and thunder. Add the sun and moon and cram them all together. What would happen? Why, an explosion of course. That was my life following the Uchiha massacre. An explosion of change.

But let us start at the beginning.

* * *

I woke to a bandaged arm.

Unusable bandaged arm.

A broken tool.

Danzo would have disposed of me out if it weren't for a certain silver-haired ninja's intervention.

It wasn't Kakashi.

'He can still be useful,' he'd said. 'I have reconstructed the chakra network in his arm so it still functions, however movement is impossible.'

And beside me was what appeared to be a Mummy. A small body so wrapped up in bandages the only thing I could see was a slight gap for a mouth.

 _Naruto._

And everything went black.

* * *

The real beginning started the moment I woke up to an old man puffing a pipe at my bedside. I wasn't in the same setting as my first awakening; this one was much friendlier, well, as friendly as a hospital can be.

"Sasayaki-kun," he said, the moment I awakened. "We have much to talk about."

I blinked, opened my mouth, and then closed it again.

What could I say?

 _Why is he here? What's going on?_

"Do you know about the Will of Fire?" he asked gently, after a short silence had passed.

I nodded my head slowly.

He slowly breathed out a foul-smelling puff of smoke.

"The Will of Fire resides within all of us who protect our village and our dear comrades. I know it resides within you, and that is why I want to entrust you with an opportunity."

I continued to stare at him blankly, still unsure as to where this was heading.

"Your powers would be well put to use learning to contain the nine-tailed beast should it ever escape again. Danzo and I have come to the… _agreement_ that it would benefit our village greatly if you could be put through an intensive training program until your cohort graduates, to speed up your learning and ensure the safety and security of your village."

My brain whirred, attempting to process what this meant.

But he moved on before I could give an answer.

"Also, you are to tell no one that it was not Kakashi who released the fox. If you do, I will have your memory erased, understood?"

I stared in confusion.

What did Kakashi have to do with this?

But before I could ask he left in a 'poof' of smoke, and I was left in a bland room smelling of old cigarettes.

And suddenly, his words sank in.

 _Kakashi who released the fox… Tell no one…_

My arms clenched around the pillow. I pressed my face into it.

I _screamed._

I screamed until my throat was raw.

* * *

Kakashi's eyes were as cold as stone.

"Are you ready?" the orange-haired one he had come to learn was Pein, asked lowly.

Kakashi nodded slowly.

He stared up at the entrance to one of the many bases of the Akatsuki. It was unassuming, appearing to be a plain dojo.

"Those who break the rules…" he murmured to himself, breathing in slowly.

"Come," Pein beckoned, disappearing into the shadows of the building.

Kakashi followed.

"Our new member…" Pein introduced.

He was faced with three other criminals, traitors. He remained blank faced, perhaps even appearing lazy. With deft fingers, he removed an orange book from his pocket.

"Yo," he drawled, voice dripping with boredom.

Kisame Hoshigaki

Sasori.

Orochimaru.

He knew of them all, had read their bingo entries countless times.

"Kakashi Hatake," a voice he loathed above all called, tone sweet as honey. "How surprising. It has been a while."

Kakashi looked up and tilted his head slightly.

"Sorry, do I know you?" he asked politely, yet this only made Orochimaru's smile widen.

"You two will be partners," Pein announced, and to the untrained eye, the clenching of Kakashi's thumb on his page would have gone unnoticed.

No one in that room was untrained.

"Get to know each other. You will start missions tomorrow. Orochimaru, show him how everything works."

Orochimaru bowed mockingly, and held out his hand with a flourish.

"Allow me to guide you," Orochimaru purred.

Sasori, Kisame and Pein disappeared without a sound.

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed now that the others were gone, and he ignored the pale man without a word, focussing on the words of his book.

"So cold…" Orochimaru cooed, lowering his hand. "You know, I can't imagine what drove you to abandon your village. You used to be such a perfect self-made machine, following every rule, even if it meant sacrifice."

He sounded genuinely curious as he turned and began to walk to one of the various sliding doors in the dojo. Kakashi followed, remaining silent.

"Could it be the trauma got to your head? Did you decide releasing the beast in your late Sensei's son was some kind of twisted retribution?"

No response.

Orochimaru slid open a paper-thin door, revealing a room inside. It had two beds and not much else, save a couple of scrolls that likely held Orochimaru's belongings.

"Welcome to our humble abode. Of course, this is only a temporary room since we will be moving depending on our missions. However, since renting a room for each member is clearly too expensive for this organisation, we will often be sharing a room," Orochimaru declared, with a touch of humour.

Kakashi didn't even bother to smother the grimace on his face.

One of the single beds had an Akatsuki robe atop it, and Orochimaru swept into the room and lifted it.

"For you Kakashi-kun," he said with a smirk that caused a shiver to go down his spine.

"Do not call me that," he said coolly as he tucked his book away and accepted the robe.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Why ever not? Would you prefer Kashi-chan, like your dear father used to call you?"

Within a second, he had Orochimaru pinned against the wall.

"I am not playing games," Kakashi said neutrally, despite the fact he held a knife at Orochimaru's throat.

"Hm, so scary. You've certainly grown… however, tell me Kakashi-kun, are you suicidal?"

Kakashi locked eyes with the snake-like man before him, the feel of the soft skin against his blade such a tempting illusion.

There was a long silence. Orochimaru folded his arms and seemed completely content despite the knife at his throat.

Finally, Kakashi stepped back slowly and drew a hand across his face.

"I wouldn't want to cause trouble," Kakashi said smoothly, and he donned the Akatsuki robe.

"I think we will get along fine," Orochimaru smirked coyly. "Now, why don't we get to know each other hm? It's been such a long time since we last… _spoke._ Tell me about your latest exploit… the massacre of the Uchiha clan."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello my wonderful readers!

So, as my old readers would see, this fic is taking a different twist to the original.

Check out my DA account if you want to see some examples of my art or join my art raffle for a chance at free art~

If any of my readers have DA, watch + note me and I'll watch ya XD

I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, I was originally going to explain all the training and stuff Sasa and Naru would be having, but I changed my mind. I'm going to skip straight to graduation next chapter since I want to get this story moving onto the good stuff.

 **Question:**

What has been your favourite scene/moment in this fic so far?


	20. Graduation

**Quick note: I'm putting up a link to fanart on my profile, check it out**

* * *

"They're dead," his father was saying.

Shikamaru stared, incomprehensive.

"What?" he breathed.

"Your two classmates, Naruto and Sasayaki, they died along with the Uchiha clan. It was Kakashi, an elite jounin, who massacred them. Only Itachi and Sasuke live.

Shikaku's face was blank and composed like it always is when he gives a report. A report that could be full of lies, for all Shikamaru knew.

(But still he grieved)

(Because something dreadful had happened, of that he knew.)

* * *

-Graduation Day-

Imagine; 4 years stuck in an underground lair, forced to train every day for hours and _hours_ and only having a break of an hour to leave the compound each day. There was food; a bland breakfast of plain porridge and steamed vegetables for dinner. Two meals a day.

A shared bunk room was where we slept, white walls, white beds, white pillows. Pale kids who hadn't seen the sun for a long time.

No one ever spoke.

That precious one hour was used by Naruto and I to see either the Gang or Sasuke, and to do the occasional prank and it was probably the only thing keeping us sane.

We had to go out in disguises, because everyone believed us dead.

Danzo informed us that it was to protect us.

It was better for everyone, he said.

You may start anew, he said.

Not that we ever had a choice.

Learning to do, well, _life_ with only one arm was another major problem. I had to have it up in a sling whenever I was fighting, so it wouldn't flop around everywhere and become a target. Anb basically anything you can think of that needs two hands, like eating, showering, lifting things, general multitasking is near _impossible._ But overtime, I began to get used to it, and in some cases I could substitute my arm for a chain.

Sasuke wasn't doing so well, either. I didn't do so well after The Mischievous Maidens massacre, and they weren't even real family.

Everyone he loved was gone, and the only one left was Itachi.

(Sasuke avoided him at all costs – he knew the truth, we knew the truth, it didn't matter that it had been ordered, Itachi killed _everyone he loved._ )

Sasuke had requested to live alone far from his clan, and it had been granted. Itachi still resided in the Uchiha clan, now entitled to all properties and possessions in the district of his clan.

Now, 4 years down the track, Naruto's and my time in the Root compound expired.

It was graduation day.

We were given plain brown clothes to wear until we could get our own, our old clothes long since outgrown. The upside to being in Root was that all expenses for us were covered, even if the conditions were shoddy. But it meant that the stipend we were receiving from the hokage had been accumulating over the years, and it meant as soon as we could get out of the compound and access it we could go on a spending spree!

Danzo didn't even see us off, not that I wanted to see his ugly mug. It had been Yugi who had been training us these four years, pushing us beyond our limits.

I hated her, for becoming the cold faceless machine she was supposed to be. The days where she was loose and open when doing weekly training with me had dramatically changed upon Danzo's new orders all those years ago;

"Train the jinchuuriki and Usagi until they are at an acceptable level. You have four years."

Apparently 'acceptable level' meant train until you drop, and then some more. And some more again.

Not that I could blame her. Yugi-sensei probably would have been punished if we weren't good enough at the end of our time.

Naruto put on the makeup to cover his whiskers, and I slathered myself with the stuff as well. Precautionary. I had no defining features apart from my hair, but that was what my brown wig was for. Naruto put in some green contacts, and then we were off.

Needless to say, the moment Naruto and I were free, the first thing we did was visit the Hokage monument.

This time, there were no whispers, no sneers of hatred as we ran through the village. In fact, people barely took any notice of the two kids running through the street. It was… nice.

Despite this, I _screamed_ out over the village when we stood atop the monument, screamed out all my anger and frustration, everything that had been pent up for so long. And then I tackled Naruto and we hugged so hard my ribs cracked.

"We're free," he whispered, then louder he screeched "WE'RE FREE!"

And in the few hours we had before we had to go to the academy, we spent buying new clothes and disguises. I settled for a simple long-sleeved black shirt with a hood and white ninja pants, and reflective silver glasses. I got a beanie to hide the majority of my hair so I wouldn't need the wig anymore. My braid was long now, almost down to my mid-back. I tucked it into the black shirt.

I looked badass, if I said so myself.

Naruto ended up with a red jumpsuit. Honestly, it was almost as bad as the orange eyesore he used to wear.

Still though, I wasn't going to say anything.

"I'm going to dye my hair red!" he declared, "So then I won't have to wear these _stupid_ contacts!"

 _Oh god, he's going to be all red, like a walking splotch of blood._

Oops, that sounded more morbid than I intended.

Before we left to do that though, Naruto noticed something. It was a rack with black masks, just like Kakashi's.

"No more make-up, this will cover my face marks just fine," he murmured, but I knew his mind was far away.

We paid and left, Naruto got his hair dyed, and just in time for us to face the academy.

"Remember, we're meant to be transfer students. My name is Sora and you're Asahi. We're orphans from the south who transferred here to join the genin program."

Naruto took a deep breath beneath his mask and nodded. He looked so different now, but at least his eyes were the same.

There was no way to prepare, really. No way to prepare to face the people we hadn't seen for four years, and pretend to not know them. Would they recognise us?

We had no choice but to walk through those doors and pretend everything would be ok.

And we did. We entered the room we had sat in so long ago, and there were our old classmates. Our whole class already present, sitting at their respective desks in the auditorium-style room.

They all look so… _old_. Well, older. 4 Years could change so much, which was clear.

My eyes searched for Sasuke and they locked with his. He nodded slightly, before looking away with faux disinterest.

Iruka cleared his throat at the front of the room.

 _Iruka…_

"I know you're all excited about graduation, but I would like to introduce the two transfers who will be graduating with you. They are from the South of Konoha. Please introduce yourselves," Iruka said, smiling patiently.

No one knew who we were, not even Iruka. Only Sasuke, and the Hokage, and maybe a few others. Probably our Jounin sensei would know, too.

"I'm Sora!" I piped up. "And this is Asahi!"

Naruto and I bowed politely, before going to take a seat at the empty seat at the back. The class stared at us until Iruka coughed and got their attention back.

 _I wonder who we'll be on a team with?_

Now that Kakashi was no longer here, we could end up with anyone as sensei.

I ignored the teams until-

"Team Seven, Sora, Asahi and Haruno Sakura."

"WHAT?" I roared, jumping to my feet before remembering myself.

 _Ah fuck._

"Is there a problem, Sora?" Iruka asked, arching a brow. I gaped for a couple of moments like a dying fish. The class stared.

"U-um, sorry sir, no problem…"

I sat back down slowly.

Naruto nudged me.

"Look, don't worry about it, this doesn't mean anything. We'll still see Sasuke every day," he whispered into my ear.

Still, I couldn't help but sigh. No Sasuke on our team? This screwed up everything!

"Anyway, as I was saying, you three will be taught by Anko Mitarashi."

I choked, and quickly dissolved into a coughing fit.

"Sora, if you keep disrupting I may have to send you outside. I know this is very new and exciting, but-"

"N-no it's nothing Sensei, just swallowed the wrong way," I interceded quickly, ignoring the sideways glance Naruto was giving me, as was Sasuke a few rows down.

Iruka sighed and continued. The teams remained the same as in canon.

So what team was Sasuke in?

"Sasuke Uchiha will be apprenticed under Akio-sensei," Iruka finished.

 _Akio-sensei?_

Who was that? Was it someone I had forgotten from canon?

Anko, it turned out was the first sensei to arrive.

 _Before_ Iruka ven announced lunch break. With a bang, unsurprisingly.

She broke through the window, causing several students to scream including Sakura, and proceeded to throw confetti about.

"TEAM 7," She roared, "UPSTAIRS IMMEDIATELY, SHRIMPS!"

And then she disappeared, leaving the class in utter confusion. Iruka simply sighed and shook his head.

I traded a glance with Naruto.

" _Wait, we know her, she's the one from the vents. She's crazy,_ " he whispered, to which I nodded.

"We didn't even get to have a lunch break!"

None-the-less, Naruto, Sakura and I left while the rest of the class got to have lunch.

"Hi, my name is Sakura, nice to meet you," Sakura said, smiling shyly as we walked down the corridor together.

Sakura, _shy?_ Had the world gone mad?

"Yea, we know-"

I slapped a hand over Naruto's mask, roughly where his mouth was, my smile twitching.

 _Idiot._

"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan! We'll make an awesome team!"

Even as I said it, I couldn't help but notice that Sakura and Naruto _matched_ in redness. Her dress and pink hair clashed horribly. It almost made me gag.

We walked up the stairs to the roof, and low and behold, there lay Anko as if she were sun-tanning on the beach. Except she was lying on a bench instead.

"Hey brats, get over here and let's get these introductions out of the way."

We hurried over and sat down in front of her.

"Tell me your name, your hobbies, your dreams, your likes and dislikes and all that crap," she yawned with a lazy flick of her hand. "You, Pinkie, hit us up."

Even years later, she was still hot as, and killing it with the mesh and beige overcoat look. I was suddenly reminded that Orochimaru wore a beige tunic if I remembered correctly from the canon.

 _Coincidence? Probably…_

"U-um… My name is Sakura Haruno… I like… I mean the person I like is-"

"Interesting," Anko drawled, interrupting her. "Next."

I smothered a giggle at the offended look on Sakura's face, though she couldn't seem to keep her eyes off Anko's barely concealed boobs.

"I'm Sora," I said. "I have a question though; why didn't you wait until _after_ lunchtime? That's when all the Sensei were _supposed_ to arrive."

Anko sniffed imperiously.

"Brat, a ninja doesn't wait around."

"Actually, if the mission requires it, a ninja may be forced to wait in order to ambush or-"

Naruto was cut off by a glare from Anko. Sakura giggled.

"Shut up, smart-ass. You know what, I think I've lost enough brain cells for today. I'm leaving. Meet me tomorrow at the village gates for our first mission."

Then she disappeared. We stared.

There was a puff of smoke that quickly dispersed.

 _She didn't even introduce herself, or tell us anything about her!_

There was a sudden pop and puff of smoke, and there she was again.

"Oh, and so you know, dango trumps anything in this world. All hail the dango god."

Then she disappeared again, leaving Naruto spluttering about how the ramen god was better.

 _Wait, and what about the bell test?_

 _Oh,_ I suddenly realised, _there's no point in it because she couldn't fail us anyway. Naruto is a jinchuuriki, after all._

"So, um, should we get lunch?" Sakura asked.

Team bonding, begin!

* * *

 **My exams are so soon. Please slaughter me.**

 **On another note, I recently broke both the bones in my ankle (one is broken in 3 places) and got the cartilage ripped off, so yeh my leg is kinda dead rn. I did it attempting a sideflip off a height onto a mat. Lesson learned.**

 **I hope all of you are going well though!**

 **Please review etc you know the drill.**

 **I didn't do an edit of this chapter so I may come back one day and do that. Maybe. Probs not.**

 **Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Question: Should I make a separate fic for the omakes and extra stuff?**


	21. Sakura's Crush

**WoW: Plus** **my new fic with the extras of this fic is now up and running, so check it out.**

* * *

Our first day was spent weeding. Not even training. Just… _weeding._ It was about what I expected, but no less disheartening.

"Stupid… weeds…" I hissed, as I struggled to pull out a particularly well-rooted one with my only working arm. I let out a war cry and put all my weight into it, and finally it ripped out in a spray of dirt. Unfortunately I hadn't thought my actions through. I stumbled and fell back onto my back with a groan.

Naruto burst out laughing, as did Anko, the bitch.

"Sora! Are you ok?" Sakura asked from where she was dumping a heap of weeds into a bin.

"Yes," I groaned. "Screw this shit! When are we getting a _real_ mission?"

"This is only day one!" Anko crowed gleefully, from where she was seated on a portable lounge chair, holding a mocktail, a parasol protecting her from the beating sun. "Now get back to it, brats! Tomorrow we'll start _training._ "

* * *

The day we finally got to meet Sasuke's sensei was the day Sakura developed a new and 'improved' crush.

Sasuke, Naruto and I had met up after our first day with our sensei and had come to an agreement: we would manipulate our sensei into doing joint missions, even if they were D-ranked, and joint training. For Naruto and I, we decided the best way to 'manipulate' Anko into doing this was to incessantly pester her until she caved, while Sasuke decided to try flat-out negotiation (and possible bribing) of his (mysterious) sensei.

Our first day of training with Anko went something like this:

"Before I teach you _anything_ , you guys are going to get some muscles! 50 laps of Konoha!"

Needless to say, that was perhaps asking a tad much. Sakura couldn't even make two laps before giving up, despite the kunai Anko threw at her. Naruto and I didn't even get around to asking Anko-sensei because I passed out on my third lap, and he had to carry me to hospital. I think Anko realised then that just because she was chasing us with kunai, didn't mean we would suddenly grow superpowers.

* * *

Anko felt a mixture of annoyance and excitement at the prospect of a genin team of her own.

The annoying part: they were forced upon her by the Hokage, and also the fact they were _brats_ and no one likes brats. Everyone knows that.

Asahi, or Naruto, as he should be known, was as bright and bubbly as always, as was Sasayaki. Honestly, how they remained like that after the trauma they had no doubt been through in Root was a mystery to her. When the Hokage had informed her of the truth mere days ago, she was shocked. She shouldn't have been, though. Wilder conspiracies she had heard in her lifetime had been known to be true. Still, it was nice to know the two brats were still alive.

Didn't make them any less annoying.

"Sora, I said 50 push-ups. What are you doing?"

"I c-c-c-can't," he gasped, his arms trembling after a mere _10._ It was no wonder he had passed out after three laps of Konoha.

It was no secret Anko took pleasure from their pain, as the genin would soon find out. She did have to whip them into shape for the upcoming exam, after all. While Asahi and Sora were no doubt skilled from their experiences in Root, those skills only extended to what Danzo had decided was important. It was clear Sora struggled with physical strength, though the report from Danzo stated that it was a natural weakness, not due to lack of effort or training.

From what the report said, Sora still struggled with strength, form and chakra stamina, but was now extremely proficient at his chain style and using basic jutsu, to the point he could complete them without hand signs so his arm would not be a hindrance. Teaching him any more difficult jutsu would pose a problem, however, considering he could only use one arm.

Anko had an idea of what taijutsu style she would teach him though.

Asahi, on the other hand, obviously had no problem with chakra consumption however his chakra control was abysmal. It was clear that Danzo had forgone control for brute strength, which did suit his style but considering his style involved using as much chakra from the Kyuubi before he lost control, it really wasn't a good idea to use that in front of anyone. Otherwise his cover as 'Asahi' would be immediately blown, so he would be needing a new style and repertoire entirely.

Anko rubbed her head and groaned.

It was going to be a long few months until the exams.

* * *

"Anko… sensei…" Naruto wheezed between pull-ups. "We have… a question…"

We were in training ground 2, the place Anko had claimed as our training ground. She scared off any other intruders by screeching like a mad woman and throwing rocks at anyone who dared to come near. Sakura was now terrified of her, too.

"What?" Anko asked in a bored tone, picking at her teeth with a senbon to remove the remaining dango. Sakura was on the ground with me, attempting push ups too. It was depressing to know that _she_ could keep up with me.

"Can… we… do… training with… Sasuke and… his… sensei?" Naruto gasped.

Sakura's head whipped up.

"How do you know Sasuke?" she demanded, suddenly not breathless at all.

"We don't," I interrupted quickly, breathing heavily. "But since he doesn't have a team, and we don't have any friends here yet, we thought he could make a good friend."

It was a flimsy excuse, but considering I made it up on the spot I patted myself on the back. Plus, it was believable, unless you knew what to look for.

Sakura frowned but said nothing

Anko looked thoughtful.

"Well brats, it's not really normal to pair up with other squads but since it's only two other people we might get away with it… I'll ask the Hokage and Akio after training."

I was surprised, I thought we would have to pester her but it seemed Anko had no problem with the idea. Naruto and I exchanged gleeful grins. Training wasn't that bad that day.

The Hokage said yes! I had a feeling he would. He sprouted some nonsense about encouraging bonds and the will of fire and blah di blah di blah, not that I'm complaining. Anko arranged a date to meet with Akio and Sasuke so we could 'get to know each other' over dango (of course).

It was a nice reprieve from the brutal training she'd made us do.

* * *

The restaurant was nice; it wasn't actually a restaurant specialising in dango thankfully, but it was on the menu. Our team sat at a 6-seater booth, and soon after we'd ordered green tea for the table Sasuke and the mysterious Akio arrived.

Akio was…

Pretty. Like in that disgustingly innocent way, he was all smiles and naïve cheer. It made me want to puke. He was meant to be a _ninja._

Sakura, on the other hand… well, she seemed to have a differing opinion.

Akio had long black hair tied in a ponytail, wide orange eyes and a kind smile that would make hearts melt. He was in a standard jounin outfit, flak jacket and all.

Akio waved politely to us all as he and Sasuke arrived, and the hearts appeared in Sakura's eyes immediately. Sasuke sat beside Naruto and I, and, coincidentally for Sakura, Akio was forced to sit beside her in the remaining space of the booth.

Sasuke, Naruto and I pretended to 'get to know each other' while Sakura shamelessly flirted with Akio and Anko was watching Sakura with an expression that seemed to be wavering between amused and disappointed.

"Ugh," I whispered. "Look at Sakura. Do you think most girls are like this?"

"Hinata isn't," Naruto put in.

"Who cares," Sasuke sneered. "I'm more worried about the fact that Akio-sensei can't teach me to use my sharingan. All we've been focusing on recently is genjutsu because he thinks I have been slacking off on it. I don't need genjutsu. It's too much like my brother."

Naruto and I exchanged glances.

"Maybe that's the point. Maybe he thinks that if you try, you'll have a natural talent for it like your brother," I mumbled thoughtfully.

"In any case, let's eat!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically as soon as we were served our meals.

We were half way through eating when Team 10 turned up, out of the blue. They immediately spotted us at our table and walked over.

"What are you guys doing here? Why weren't we invited to the party, huh?" Ino demanded, thrusting her finger at Sakura.

"What a drag. I just came to eat. Let's go, Chouji," Shikamaru sighed, turning to drag Chouji off with him.

"Wait! Where do you think you're going?"

And so, that's how we ended up shunted to a large table that could accommodate the new arrivals. I ended up on the end of the table across from Anko and next to Ino.

"So Sora-kun, how has your training been?" Ino demanded, turning to me and twirling a lock of hair between her fingers.

"It would be good if I didn't have an asshole of a teacher," I told her bluntly.

"Hey, I can hear you brat," Anko snapped. "And Sora is just a whining little turd. You would love me if you had me, Ino-chan," Anko said, smiling in a grotesquely sweet way.

Ino sent her possibly the most repelled expression I had ever seen, her features drawn back with disgust.

I laughed. I couldn't help it. It was the most beautiful expression I had ever witnessed. Anko actually faltered. This is Anko we're talking about here.

"Sora is not a... a little _turd_. You're the turd here," she sniffed haughtily. "Plus, who would want a sensei that binges on dango all the time. Your rockin' bod isn't going to last forever with that diet. You'll be too fat to work in a few years," she finished flippantly.

"Why you-"

All in all, I think the event went rather well. Especially since Ino ended up with her face mashed into her soup.


	22. C-Rank Mission

"Wow! Our first C-rank!" Naruto screeched excitedly, bouncing about with the mission brief Anko had just handed him.

I, however, was somewhat worried. It was no secret that dirst-time C-ranks had a reputation of going bad. But I supposed there was nothing I could do about it; we were going to have to go through it at some point.

"What does it say?" Sakura snatched the sheet from him.

"We're going to the Hot Water village. I'll tell you about it later. Pack up your things and meet me at the gates in half an hour."

Then she disappeared. The three of us headed home to do just that.

I spent a while dicouraging Naruto from bringing a massive bag that was so heavy it weighed him down - instead I reminded him that he knew how to use seals.

"Oh yea!" he yelled, and then he sealed everything into a scroll and tucked it into a pocket.

We arrived back at the gates just in time, Sakura already there and lugging a small bag. She raised her brows when she saw us.

"No bag?"

Naruto grinned and whipped out his scroll, as I did with the one I had borrowed from him.

Then she let out a little 'oh!'.

Anko arrived a moment later.

"Ok brats, let's get this thing over with. I'll brief you on the way."

We took off to the trees.

"So, basically we're going to be delivery guys. I have an item, just a gem, that the guy we're delivering to requested. He's a regular customer that often buys things of worth from our village and has them transported to him."

"Why doesn't he just come to the village himself?" Sakura asked.

"The Hokage says he just isn't willing to travel that far every time he buys something, so he just gets it brought to him. It is often the case with rich merchants."

"And what could be so special about a stupid gem anyway?" Naruto muttered.

Anko shrugged.

"Gems aren't my thing, but this one is some solid stuff. Maybe he has a wife or something he wants to give it to."

"Uhuh," I nodded along. "But back to the mission itself; how should we react if we get attacked by a missing nin? Just, for example, like one of the Seven Swordsmen?"

Anko burst out laughing and slowed down so she could pat me on the head.

"I don't think you're strong enough for that kiddo. This mission has a minimal danger risk."

"But what if it _did_ happen?" I demanded.

Anko shrugged. "Run as fast as you fucking can."

It would take us five days to get to the Hot Water village. It wasn't an unpleasant journey, but it wasn't exactly full of exciting things. In fact the most interesting thing was probably when Sakura woke up to find a spider had crawled onto her face in the night. She screamed like hell, of course, and the rest of us got a kick out of it.

On our final day of travel, as we were approaching, Anko decided to tell us a bit more about the village.

"The Hot Water village is a trading hub, many people from all nations come here to show their goods. Only the best are given permits to set up stalls here though, since it's so competitive. Also you should know that it's a neutral village that is most civilian."

"What does neutral village mean?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"It means that they have no alliances or enemies, but have no laws against letting anyone enter; be it criminals, missing-nin etc," Sakura replied. "I never thought I'd see one of these villages exist. I thought they were myths."

"Nope," Anko said, popping the 'p'.

"But what happens if they're attacked from the inside by a criminal?"

"Well, the criminal will be driven out or eliminated. It's the same with missing-nin. Though th village is mostly civilian, the visitors are not and many missing-nin have taken up residence there. Whenever their peace is disturbed, they tend to eliminate it without the government having to do a thing."

"Wow," Naruto breathed. "What if we see a missing-nin from Konoha?"

"Do nothing. Just smile and keep going like nothing is wrong and you should be pretty safe."

 _Oh my GOD. What if Orochimaru is there? Or one of the Akatsuki?_

I swallowed. No. No that was unlikely. And even if for some strange reason I did see one, they wouldn't be able to do anythhing unless they wanted to be expatriated.

But then we were at the gates, and Anko signed us in with a friendly smile at the guard. Then we wandered in.

The village was a sight to see. There was colour _everywhere._ Even many of the houses were built as certain colours. Children ran about blowing massive bubbles and waving various trinkets, showing them off. Even the people here were dressed with heavy jewellery and clothes bursting with colour.

"Wow! This place should be called the Rainbow Country!" Naruto cried, dancing about and taking everything in as we wandered the streets for a bit.

It wasn't trade season yet, but that didn't stop the amassment of stalls selling food and occasionally trinkets.

I tugged on my beanie self-consciously. I looked so out of place with my black long-sleeved shirt and beanie and white ninja pants.

Naruto and Sakura seemed to fit in perfectly, with their ridiculous red clothes. The fashion sense here seemed to be shot, if it existed at all. It seemed that the more colour you wore, the better, even if the garments of clothing were not so flash.

"Let's get going; we're meant to be meeting this guy at a restaurant called Mitsuo's Magic. I've got directions here."

It didn't take long to get there; though it didn't seem like the place you would meet a rich merchant. The entrance was down a back alley in a nondescript location. It seemed shady as hell. Though when we entered, a bell tinkering, it was actually a very nice looking place. The place was lit with candles and the faint smell of incense wafted throughout the restaurant. It didn't so much have tables as booths and colourful lounges surrounding low tables where you could relax while having a meal.

All in all, it looked rather nice.

"Ah, it smells so good!" Sakura gushed, breathing in deeply.

"Welcome! I'm glad you like it, I got it a few days ago from a trader from Kiri. It's a smell that can only be found in certain flowers that grow in Kiri's environment," a voice said from behind us. The three of us jumped while Anko just turned, her plastic smile twitching with annoyance.

"Thank you," Anko told the strange man politely. He was dressed like a jester, with yellow and black tights, a black trench coat over a purple shirt and yellow tie. His jester hat was yellow and purple, his hair a sandy blond and eyes a startling grey.

He was smiling at her in a way I didn't like at all. His smile was too... mischievous for my liking.

"My name is Mitsuo, proud owner of Mitsuo's Magic. Please! Let me show you to a seat. Four?"

"Actually, we're waiting for someone. His name is Takumi."

"Oh! Takumi, huh? Interesting. He happens to be a friend of mine," Mitsuo said proudly, leading us to a private booth. "I can tell you secrets about him. Secrets that might interest you very much."

"Ooh! What secrets?" Naruto asked, grinning excitedly.

"Well, they wouldn't be secrets if they weren't worth something," he drawled, flashing Naruto a playful grin, but his attention quickly diverted back to Anko.

Naruto just looked confused.

"Sorry, I'm not paying for the words of a con," Anko responded, grinning at him darkly and letting her eyes rove his outfit pointedly.

He shrugged, but the smile remained on his face. The four of us slid into the booth.

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. "I'll bring you all some tea!" And then he pranced off, presumably to the kitchens.

"What a weirdo," I said, making a face.

"Anko-sensei likes him," Naruto said with a poker face though I knew he was inwardly grinning.

"Shove off, brat. I do not _like_ him. Kunoichi like me do not _like_ people. That's for baby genin and academy students," she said dismissively.

Sakura went red and ducked her head, causing Anko to cackle and give her a nookie, causing her to screech.

"If you don't like people, then what?" I asked, genuinely curious.

The smirk on her face was positively gleeful.

"You'll understand one day, kiddos."

My face scrunched up with displeasure.

"Well, Sakura likes Akio-sensei," Naruto felt the need to point out, even though it was rather irrelevant.

"I DO NOT LIKE HIM!" Sakura screeched, and just at the moment Mitsuo appeared with the tea. He placed the tea down, giggling.

"Who do you not like?" he slid into the booth next to Anko, pressing most obviously into her personal space though his attention remained on Sakura.

"No- no one!" she spluttered.

"She likes our friend's sensei!" I grinned triumphantly, watching her squirm.

"Why that is adorable! Is he hot?"

"Yes- I mean, what, I don't like him!" she yelled. But before any fun could be made of her, a man walked up to our booth.

He appeared to be in his late thirties with dark brown hair in a ponytail that was clipped to the top of his head and a red headband tied around his forehead, bangs framing his face. He had wide innocent slate-purple eyes, and delicate features. A pretty man, if you will.

He definitely didn't look like a typical rich merchant.

"Mitsuo-san! And you must be the team from Leaf!" he smiled enthusiastically and slid into the last available seat, next to Naruto. However, just for the tiniest second, I though I saw him glance at Naruto oddly.

Perhaps it was my imagination.

"Takumi! It has been a while. I suppose I should leave you to your business," Mitsuo said with a dramatic sigh. "Call me if you need anything!" then he disappeared.

However, my eyes were on Anko, not missing the piece of paper she slipped discreetly into her pocket with a smug smile.

Then she unravelled a scroll and unsealed the contents, a gem of solid blue appearing on the table.

"Here is your order," she said briskly.

Takumi nodded excitedly, and he reached into a satchel he had.

"This is what the Hokage has requested as payment. Please keep it safe!"

It was a scroll.

Anko nodded, the scroll disappearing into her pocket in a flash.

"Thank you! It was nice doing business with you." she slid a few coins onto the table, probably to pay for the tea, and then stood up.

"We will be going now. We hope you will continue to use Konoha's services!" she said with a bright smile, and the three of us exchaged confused glances as we followed. That was quick.

On the way out of the restaurant, I noticed three people walk in.

They appeared about our ages, maybe a bit older. In fact, two of them looked quite a lot like Mitsuo. Just for a moment, my eyes met with the grey-eyed boy, his hair cut so that one of his eyes was obscured. Under his one visible eye was a red teardrop.

And we walked past each other, our shoulders almost brushing as we passed each other, and then I looked away. But not before a smirk curled his lips.

Eerily reminiscent of Mitsuo.

But then, we passed each other and the moment ended.

* * *

We ended up staying a night at an inn, despite the fact we could have headed off.

I felt I knew why, as did Naruto. We stayed up just so we could grin at Anko as she left once Sakura had fallen asleep. We were in the same room, you see. It was a safety measure most genin teams follow.

She had waited for us to fall asleep, pretending to be asleep herself, but when she finally realised we weren't going to she'd just gone ahead and gotten up anyway. She did, however, create a shadow clone.

Naruto and I sported identical cheshire grins as she walked passed us.

"We know where you're going~" I sang. "You're going to see Mitsuo. Because you like him."

"Shut up brat," she flushed, and walked past us brusquely. "I do not _like_ him. This is adult stuff."

"Have fun with your date!" Naruto called as she left.

"Hey, we should go exploring!" I piped up as she walked out.

"No way," the clone Anko snapped. "Absolutely not. Go to bed. You won't be able to keep up tomorrow if you're half asleep."

We grudgingly relented, sliding back into our respective beds.

We did whisper for a while, until Anko got so annoyed she threw a pillow at each of us and told us to shut up. Finally we did, and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Strangely, nothing terrible did happen on that mission. Well, nothing that I had knowledge of. In the future I would look back and wonder;

If only we had known just _who_ Mitsuo was, what would we have done differently?


	23. FAQ Time

FAQ's

IT'S QUESTION TIME!

So, a lot of people have been confused about my decisions for this fic. I always respond personally, but for the sake of everyone else I shall explain a few things:

* * *

1\. Why choose Kakashi as the scapegoat?

This is an interesting one, because for me it made complete sense. I'll try and explain it anyway. Basically, Kakashi is older and more experienced than Itachi so therefore would be better equipped to handle the Akatsuki. On top of that, no offense to Kakashi, but in the eyes of the village I would think it would be better for them to lose Kakashi, who has no family and thus no attachments, plus no Uchiha genes to pass on. He's strong, everyone knows that, so he can handle the mission. Plus his secrecy and time in ANBU, plus his detached nature and aversion to public relations make him a prime candidate as a scapegoat since I doubt many would bat an eye at his betrayal (it runs in the family XD). Itachi is a super epic prodigy they wouldn't want to lose if they can avoid it.

2\. Wouldn't Orochimaru steal Kakashi's eyes?

The simple answer is no. If Orochimaru wanted second-hand Sharingan eyes, he would have got them from wherever he got the ones he implanted in Danzo's arm from. He wants the body of an Uchiha, because second-hand eyes are second-rate.

3\. Why make it so unnecessarily tragic?

All of Naruto is tragic, I don't know why this is a problem. Plus, what's the point in a story where nothing goes wrong? But things will work out in the end. Mostly. Maybe. XD

(Plus, my old readers should know sometimes my shit gets DARK)

(But I'm toning it down a LOT for this version, and I think its working! Feel free to comment otherwise)

4\. Why is Sasayaki so weak?

Ok, so honestly I got a lot of backlash for this in the first version especially, but still on this version too. Yes, she is weak, she's a GODDAMNED LITTLE KID GUYS COME ON. Honestly, I've always hated natural-born powerhouse characters, that's why I made that Mary-sue omake to accentuate how RIDICULOUS it is. Nor is she a prodigy like the rest of her class, in saying that I feel I have actually improved her a lot from the last version. In my opinion, she's actually quite strong for what should be considered 'normal'. I think many may interpret her as weak because of her behaviour (she is childish and immature, that does not make her stupid). If you can't handle a 'weak' OC then go elsewhere.

5\. What the FUCK are those weird interlude chapters?

Well my friends, that is for me to know and… you to find out if you make it to the end of my fic X'D Do note that I was inspired by Markus Zusak and his book 'The Book Thief' which I am surprised no one has noted yet.

6\. About Sasa's arm...

It will be usable again, one day in the far future. Until then, she's going to use her 'limited brain capacity' to make do.

* * *

Please let me know if you are still confused!

If you have any more questions you want me to add to this list, drop them in the reviews and I shall answer so promptly! I'll probably do another of these in a few chapters too, maybe. Thanks!

And of course, general thoughts on this fic are always welcome! Tell me what you like, dislike, what you want to happen, what you think will happen etc.

(EXCEPTION: Hearing my darling OC being referred to as 'dumb' and 'weak' and not in an analytical sense is grating on my nerves though, so please refrain if you can. In case you haven't noticed yet, I have deliberately made her NOT a prodigy, and very childish. That is her character. Telling me she is stupid and I should change her to make her super strong and smart and a genius prodigy is only going to piss me off. Writing this and even thinking of it is pissing me off. That's how pissed I am. Only I'm allowed to put her down.)

* * *

Last thing is just a shout out to some of my reviewers who I really appreciate:

sallymadrigal605, TheOne320, D3wman, The-Living-Shadow, The Real Chys Lattes, Deep in the Night, EmmieSauce, WhiteFang001, SuperSaiyan888, and my other supportive reviwers thank you so much (:

And these amazing reviewers who I feel have helped so much and who have been with me for some time:

Twinbuster2, Lizyeh2000, May525, Shotogun, DannyPhantom619

 **Special shout out for ArturoLJ50, my favourite boi X'D**

And my ever helpful and supportive friends BlackDove WhiteDove and DragonDancer81

* * *

Now I have a question for you guys:

Do you prefer longer or shorter chapters?


	24. Preparations and Examinations

**Quick note: I know I left the scene from the last chapter unfinished, but I got too impatient. Also, I decided to skip sensei-student bonding and will include chapters on that in the WoW: Plus if you want to see some team bonding and missions!**

* * *

Anko, bless her evil, decrepit heart, taught me a new form of taijutsu that worked with my limited use of arms.

It was a kick-boxing style, where hands were used primarily for defence and legs acted as the offense. My dead arm made for a great shield also simply because I could feel no pain in it, so I could use my chains to lift it to act as a quick defence, and retaliate with kicks.

She was a god-send to Naruto as well. She tasked him with the goal of creating a seal that could seal a large portion of his chakra away. Of course, this sounded like a horrendous idea at first, but when she explained it did make sense.

While Sakura was taking her turn on an obstacle course through a (extremely dangerous) forest, Anko gave us the run down.

"Listen up, kid. Because of that beast sealed in you, you have a far greater chakra capacity than anyone your age should, and it will only make people suspicious. They might connect the dots that you are Naruto. So, when you've sealed your chakra away, with ready access should you properly need it, I'm going to teach you how to control your chakra properly. You can be our sealing specialist."

And that was exactly how it went.

* * *

The chunin exams was approaching far too quickly for comfort. However, I hadn't been idle. I'd planned how everything would happen, and it was a pretty solid plan if I said so myself.

It would go like this:

I would convince Sakura not to join the exams by telling her to do medicine so she would start on her career to becoming an iryo-nin. Then, I would convince the Hokage to place Sasuke on our team in her stead.

For the exams I would dress up as Sasuke, and Sasuke and Naruto would dress up as Naruto and me. Then, we would overlay our disguises with henges of random people so we would be even more protected. That way, even if Orochimaru _did_ figure out Sasuke was on our team in a henge, he would mistake me for Sasuke and in the worst case scenario I would get bitten instead of Sasuke.

It was pure genius. _I_ was pure genius.

However, things didn't quite go according to plan.

Starting with how Sakura responded to my suggestion after Anko announced she'd nominated us for the exams.

"Are you kidding me?" Sakura growled, raising a fist at me. "Are you saying I'm _weak?_ "

"What?" I replied, paling. "That's not what I said! I mean, you _are_ , which is why you should try medical jutsu and-"

The broken nose I received may have been deserved. Anko-sensei was too busy howling with laughter to take me to the hospital while I was curled on the ground, so Naruto had to do it.

So basically, my whole plan crashed and burned with the minor oversight that Sakura might not _want_ to become a medical ninja. Yet.

But all hope was not lost. It was time to enact my back-up plan.

After my nose was healed, I tracked down Sasuke and told him how awesome it would be if he dressed up as Naruto and went into the exam in a henge, and I could pretend to be him.

His response was to stare at me weirdly, shake his head and walk away with his hands in his pockets.

Akio-sensei, who had watched the whole exchange, smiled at me and told me he thought it was a great idea. But also…

"Why so paranoid, Sora-kun?"

I turned to look at the orange-eyed man.

"Ninja must learn to be paranoid at all times," I told him solemnly. Then I made a show of eying him condescendingly. "Some of us know the world can be a harsh place," I finished waspishly, hoping that would wipe the cheery, naïve smile from his lips.

It didn't, and when I turned around and stalked away haughtily, I swear I even heard him chuckle. Stupid happy people.

My third attempt to help save Sasuke's ass was to speak to my Arch Enemy, the Hokage. I rebelliously didn't book an appointment and simply wandered past the receptionist, whistling a merry tune, and knocked on his door. I wasn't brave enough to do the 'kick the door in without knocking first' act, so after a second had passed after knocking I slammed the door open.

My first thought was that perhaps that was a bad idea, because it might set traps off. My second thought, however, was the realisation that bookings might actually be for a _reason._ Hence I was faced with a terrible conundrum.

There stood Danzo, in front of the Hokage's desk, his face half turned towards me. The Hokage sat at his desk, the usual pile of paperwork stacked beside him and an air of tiredness surrounding him.

Unfortunately, I couldn't just meekly slide away after such a dramatic entrance. Nor would I apologise with Danzo standing there. So, with a façade of confidence I stepped into the office.

"Hokage-sama," I greeted, bowing. I didn't want to greet Danzo, but I found myself moving almost robotically, bowing just as low to him. "Danzo-sama."

I dropped to my knee in a submissive gesture that had long since been trained into me during my time at Root.

The two stared at me in silence, Danzo's eye sizing me up in that cold, calculating way.

"Now is not a good time, Sora-kun," the Hokage said stiffly but not unkindly, despite my crass actions.

"Since he had the audacity to barge into the room like that, why not let him speak," Danzo said _almost_ snappily.

The Hokage sighed and gestured for me to stand. I rose slowly, my eyes darting between the two of them, and I stood to attention with my back ramrod straight.

"I would like to enquire as to Sasuke's placements in the chunin exam, since he has no team of his own," I droned.

 _Please tell me he won't be getting in because he doesn't have any team members,_ I prayed.

"One of our older genin teams has a vacancy because one of the members was injures, and have already agreed to accept Sasuke onto their team as a replacement," Hiruzen replied with a weary smile.

"Oh," I said, mind working furiously. There was no way I would convince the Hokage to keep Sasuke out of the exams, and no way to get him on my team short of killing or injuring Naruto or Sakura (I _swear_ I wasn't considering it!) but one thing I _could_ do was try and get Sasuke on my team with Naruto and Sakura. That way, things would hopefully happen as in canon and I could keep track of Sasuke, and could join up with him in the second exams.

"Hokage-sama," I started hesitantly, unsure how to bring this up without it looking suspicious.

 _Ooh, I know!_

"Would you mind if I took Sasuke's place on the older genin's squad, and he can replace me with Asahi and Sakura? You see, Sakura and I had a bit of a fight and I feel like we won't-"

"Yes, yes," Hiruzen said, clearly impatient to get back to whatever he was quarrelling about with Danzo. "That is fine, Sora-kun. I heard you were in hospital. You are dismissed."

Inside, I whooped with glee. Any other day and he surely would have been on my case, asking questions, but clearly he was so pressured by Danzo's presence he had no time to spare for me.

I wandered home, to Kakashi's old clan home, with a grin.

Tomorrow, the chunin exams begin!

* * *

Explaining to my team why I had transferred to another genin squad was awkward, to say the least. Anko was giving me this searing look, as if she was trying to see into my soul and dig up all the hidden truths.

Naruto was crushed, something I didn't have the foresight to prepare for, so when his face dropped guilt crashed over me in waves.

At least someone was happy, though.

"Ha! You're not a man if you are so scared of me that you changed teams!" Sakura crowed victoriously. I didn't have the heart to refute her, not after watching Naruto turn his back on me.

"Well kiddo, I don't really know what to think of this, so you better get your ass over to your new team before I make up my mind," Anko drawled, and slapped me on the back, hard enough to propel me towards my new team at the same moment Sasuke appeared, looking bemused.

I didn't bother to greet him and instead trudged over to my temporary squad.

Now, at this point I hadn't had a chance to have a look at my new team, so when I did I got a nasty surprise.

A _very_ nasty surprise, in fact a surprise so nasty it stopped me dead in my tracks.

Kabuto was there.

Something tugged at my consciousness, telling me I should have remembered Kabuto was part of the chunin exams, on a Leaf team.

But the chances it was _his_ team I was put into, out of all the fucking older genin teams-

"Hi! You must be Sora-kun," Kabuto greeted, with an insincere smile. "My name is Kabuto, and this is Yoroi Akado," he informed me, pointing the the guy beside him who had round black glasses like Shino's, and a purple-black cloth over his lower face. His head was covered with a bandana too. He was silent.

I took a breath.

 _He doesn't know who I am, I'm Sora now,_ I reminded myself.

I smiled.

"Nice to meet you," I told them, covering the last of the distance between us without so much as a hitch. "I hope we make a good team. Please take care of me!"

* * *

The first exam went basically exactly as in canon, except this time Kabuto didn't do his little show of ninja info cards, not that I was complaining.

Ibiki pulled the exact same 'cheat and you'll pass', but also a 'don't write anything just don't give up on the last question' type exam.

So basically, I waited in my allocated seat for three hours, staring out the window. I was watching a crow caw as Ibiki declared he was going to ask the final question in a dramatic tone, scaring away half the participants, then told us we had passed and yada yada yada.

What I didn't expect, despite it being canon, was Anko's entrance.

The only reason I wasn't startled when she shattered through the window and threw out her banner was that I had seen her approaching like a bullet through the window.

Now, the reason I was surprised because in most logical societies, a teacher that has taught some of the students in an exam does not oversee that exam for they may advantage or disadvantage their students.

But then again, having Anko as the proctor for our second exam wasn't really surprising if I analysed a bit further. After all, it was common knowledge she was a veteran of the Forest of Death, having trained there for many years, and there was really no way she could give any sort of advantage to any of the participants simply because all she did was pass out the consent forms and tell us the run-down of the exam. Plus, there would be other shinobi there who would be making sure she wasn't dropping any hints to specific parties.

It comforted me a little, to know my sensei would be in the vicinity during tomorrow's exam, but in canon it had changed nothing and there was no guarantee the same wouldn't happen.

That night I spent tossing and turning, sweating bullets. I hadn't planned further than plan #1 which had dramatically failed and I was realising then that my backup plan really wasn't a guarantee of anyone's safety. Sasuke was still in plain sight, on Team 7, waiting to be picked like a ripe cherry. The only thing I had guaranteed was that he wasn't on a team with Kabuto, which was unintentional anyway.

I bolted upright as an idea hit me.

I knew exactly where the exam was going to be held, and what we had to do for it. Why wasn't I using that to my advantage?

 _Ok,_ I decided. _Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to break off from Kabuto and Yoroi as soon as I can, and I'm going to find Team 7 and help them get to the end safely. In the meantime, though…_

I slipped out of the apartment, as quietly as possible so as to not wake Naruto, and I headed to the Forest of Death.

Now, I can tell you without a doubt that being in the Forest of Death at night is intensely creepy. I spent several hours, from dusk until dawn, tracking the way to the tower and back again so I would know where to go. I had to evade all sorts of weird creatures too, but luckily I didn't encounter any animals that were too dangerous.

I also lay traps down. Everywhere I could in the amount of time I had. It was impossible to cover the whole forest of course, but I chose a couple of the more obviously used trails I could find to place down the odd trap.

I would have to tell Naruto and the others where the traps were so they could avoid them.

The last thing I did was create several clones. They nodded at me silently and went to each of the gates to enter the forest, where I knew they would hide themselves so they could track each team.

I nodded to myself as I headed back home, the sun already rising above the village. It wasn't a fool-proof plan by any stretch, but it was as good as I could get at this point.

When I slipped back into the apartment, Naruto hadn't woken yet, and I dropped into my bed with the hopes of getting a good nap before heading to the exam.

* * *

 **Lots of funsies coming up next chapter XD Feel free to throw me your thoughts and predictions yayyyyy**


	25. Day 1

The next day I met Kabuto and Yoroi at the exams after saying a terse farewell to Sasuke and Naruto. Kabuto gave me a cheery greeting which I ignored. Yoroi actually smiled at me though, which was extremely weird. I could tell because hes eyes crinkled at the sides of his glasses. I gave him a strange look.

Anko called us to her not long after, and gave out the 'consent' forms (pfft, consenting to be a ninja? How ridiculous).

I was giddy with apprehension, and not from the consent forms. My eyes darted about, searching out He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I did remember he was disguised as a creepy Grass-nin, and it didn't take me long to find said nin.

My eyes locked onto her face from the corner of my eye. S/he looked... nervous. Just like all the other nins. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but hadn't s/he been oozing bloodlust in the show, and cuddling up behind Anko when said proctor threw a knife at Naruto? Acting like a lunatic? Throwing his/her tongue all over the place?

My eyes narrowed.

Looked like in this timeline, Orochimaru was playing the scared genin card. Then he would show his true colours later.

I did have a way to test it though.

I laughed openly, catching everyone's attention in the middle of Anko's speech.

"Forest of Death? Don't make me laugh. The only thing deadly I see here is how ugly that guy is," I yelled, throwing a finger at the disguised Grass-nin.

Anko raised her brow at me, clearly knowing this wasn't my typical behaviour. But as I expected, she was too sadistic to pass up such an opportunity, and before I could read the expression on Orochimaru's face, my cheek had been sliced open.

"Cute squirts like you are always the first to die," she responded cheekily. To us, this was a game. She knew I wasn't serious, and I knew she wasn't either. But...

It wasn't the Grass-nin who appeared behind us. It was...

Yoroi?

He had a knife to Anko's neck.

"That happens to be my teammate," he said softly. "It would be much appreciated if you released him."

I blinked in surprise. Wow, was Yoroi actually being nice? He screwed up my plan by being protective like that! Now Orochimaru wouldn't strike.

Anko snorted and smiled coolly

"People only get this close behind me when they want to die." She said it so off-handedly, but the threat was clear.

Damn, Anko was awesome.

"My apologies..." but he didn't move instantly. In fact, despite Anko's words, he leaned in, took her hand even as she stiffened, and moved it so the kunai was far from my neck. "Do refrain from touching him again."

and then he walked back to Kabuto's side.

Anko was flushed with anger. The thing was, she most certainly would have smashed his face in, had it not been the fact she was our proctor and therefore liable to be sacked for such drastic actions that could disadvantage a team.

Still though, from the way Yoroi had been acting, could it be...?

Could it be he had a crush on Anko? Because the way he used the opportunity to hold her hand was sort of telling...

I returned to my team, grinning cattily at him. He raised a brow at me, but turned away uncaringly.

We received a heaven scroll, and then our team was then led to our gates.

"Ok, Sora before we begin what are your strengths?" Kabuto asked as we waited.

I opened my mouth just as the blood drained from my face.

Because I used a chain style that no one knew I (Sasayaki) had used before my death except a select few, which meant in normal circumstances I could use it as Sora. But now...

"I... I'm fast..." I said lamely.

Yoroi let slip a chuckle. Kabuto just looked at me.

"Ok... that's a good start. I think it would be best if we teamed up with your original team, Sora-kun. That way, we can work together. The Leaf's motto is, after all, about teamwork.

I nodded mutely. I couldn't believe it. This was perfect.

I knew that Orochimaru attacked on the first day; Kabuto had just given me the perfect reason to go seeking them out. Although why he wanted to find them was a mystery. I was sure he wouldn't blow his cover though, which meant he had no malicious intent. Possibly he wanted to meet up with Orochimaru before he attacked perhaps.

Just at that moment, I flinched slightly as one of my clones popped, alerting me to the presence of Team 7.

"They're at gate 13," I said, without explanation. "We should head that way and we'll find them."

Kabuto and Yoroi exchanged glances, quick enough that I almost missed it.

"Really? How did you know that?"

I smiled mysteriously and tapped my head misleadingly..

"We have our ways," I said, hoping they would think it was some sort of telepathy.

Kabuto laughed and shook his head in disbelief or awe, I couldn't tell.

Just then the doors opened and the Kabuto and Yoroi disappeared the second I blinked.

Aw shit!

I dashed out the gates and hurried to catch up to them. Damn, they were running fast. Not enough for me to drop my resistance seals, but still. How long did they plan to keep up this pace for?

Not that I was complaining. The sooner we could find Naruto and the others, the better.

We were running for quite some time before anything of interest occurred. That being the attack of another team.

The Grass team. My face was white as the three Grass nins dropped in front of us, blocking us.

But before I came to any conclusions, they attacked.

There was a Grass-nin in front of me, bringing down a kunai on my head. I acted, stepping swiftly to the side, just enough for the kunai to pass me by millimetres, then like lightning I twisted his own wrist hard enough I felt it break and held it there; his kunai was now pointing towards his own throat.

Then he landed, unable to stop is own momentum, and he speared himself on his kunai. I watched as the kunai thrust deep into his brain, killing him instantly. I let him drop, and turned back to see how the others were doing.

It was not what I expected. They were finished as well, and I hadn't even seen how they'd killed the other two, one of them supposedly being Orochimaru.

Either Yoroi was a monster and had killed Orochimaru in the blink of an eye, or that wasn't Orochimaru.

And they were off again, leaving me confused and with a sense of tense fear building within me. I grabbed the dead Grass team's scroll from their bag. Earth. We could pass with this, but clearly Yoroi and Kabuto did not care in the least.

I had to stop them. They were out of sight now, but with some rapid hand-signs I created a clone and instantly dispersed it. That would update my clones on the current situation.

One of my other clones dispersed, leaving me with Gaara's location.

Perfect, he wasn't too far.

And with that, I took a deep breath, deactivated my resistance seals, and launched after Kabuto and Yoroi.

Maybe, just maybe... I could take Orochimaru out with one hit. He wouldn't be expecting it, after all.

I caught up with the other two, pretending to be panting.

"Hey guys, what's the rush?" I huffed. "Slow down, would you."

I positioned myself so I was running behind Yoroi.

"We want to reach your team before dark," Kabuto responded, and just as his sentence tapered off I moved.

Everything happened so fast. I launched forward at full speed with a kunai out, going for the back of Yoroi's neck, or more spcifically, Orochimaru's.

And suddenly we were all still. Kabuto had his hand around my wrist, stopping me millimetres before my kunai made contact with Orochimaru's neck. Orochimaru himself had stopped abruptly, leaving us in a close triangular position. It was possibly the most awkward situation in my life.

Kabuto's eyes were narrowed at me.

"Sora-kun, what is the meaning of this?"

Shit, what do I say?

And then Orochimaru turned around.

"Yes, Sora-kun. Care to explain?"

And his voice was no longer brittle like Yoroi's, it was velvety and smooth. I couldn't see his expression beneath all of Yoroi's face accessories, but I could imagine I wouldn't like it.

He knew I knew, or had made the assumption. And my suspicions had just been proven correct.

My clone made it's appearence, dashing from the bushes. It didn't get far, but that didn't matter. It provided a distraction, and I managed to rip myself away from Kabuto and I tore off in the opposite direction of Naruto and the others.

"Let's take a small detour, ne?" I heard Orochimaru say, before I was out of earshot.

My heart was thumping so hard, and I was sweating from anxiety. But I had to do this, had to keep him away from Naruto and Sasuke.

I glanced up when I noticed a shadow pass over me, and my eyes widened at the sight of Yoroi dropping from the sky in front of me. He landed without a sound, as if he hadn't just dropped thirty feet from the sky.

My heart was in my throat.

I had hoped to get to Gaara's team so they could provide a distraction, but clearly I had overestimated my speed, or underestimated him.

I watched mutely as Orochimaru pulled off his face mask and threw his bandana and glasses to the side. Yoroi had good reason to hide his face; it wasn't the prettiest in existence, I can tell you that.

"Let's talk, shall we?"

I flinched when he shifted, and my eyes darted about, searching for Kabuto, the missing factor. Would he interfere?

Oh god, I was shaking so much my teeth were literally chattering.

Orochimaru began walking forward.

"You see, your movements, your scent, it's all so familiar. I simply haven't been able to place it. Perhaps you can enlighten me, hm?"

His eyes shone with curiosity and amusement as my breath hitched.

He... he had caught on to me already, he was already suspicious. Perhaps that was the reason I wasn't already dead.

"An old experiment, perhaps? An escaped prisoner's child?" I stumbled back as he began walking towards me. I had to act, and fast. If I wanted to survive this, I would have to use my chains, whether it would give me away or not but not yet, there was still an option...

I did the next best thing. I threw down the Earth scroll I had in my pocket.

There was a burst of smoke and the next thing I knew Orochimaru was striking, and the ninja, probably a chunin, that I had never seen before didn't have even a moment's notice.

He was dead before he even knew what was going on, and his blood was all over me, literally. My face turned to the colour of ash and my mouth opened. All that escaped was a little whimper.

He stepped over the slumped body that separated us, and suddenly my mind cleared and sharpened.

If I didn't kill this man, or at least stall him long enough to draw attention, Sasuke would be in danger.

My mouth closed, I swallowed and I made my move. I threw myself forwards.

Before I could make contact, his hand came down on my back, throwing me to the ground, but I landed and used the moment to launch from the ground and catch his legs, taking us both down.

And I moulded my chakra and the lightning sprung from my fingers, electrocuting him.

He melted into mud but I was already moving, dodging the snakes attacking me from behind.

It was a dance, fast and dangerous. For every attack I attempted with my limited repertoire, I found myself slammed back three-fold. But I was moving fast, using my speed to it's fullest for possibly the first time.

Orochimaru was smiling the whole time we fought, looking as if he was barely trying. I knew, if I didn't step it up, he would get bored and it would be all over. The fight was picking up, blood was already dripping down my brow, and I had several bruises while Orochimaru looked as fresh as a daisy.

I felt so weak, so outmtched, so humiliated, even though my limbs were moving as fast as lightning somehow he was blocking them and retaliating playfully, like I was nothing.

And when the massive snake that he had summoned attacked, I had no choice but to reveal myself, despite my dread and fear.

He had me trapped against a tree, the snake's giant maw rapidly approaching, too fast too simply throw myself out of the way.

I screamed out my frustration in the face of this situation, and then my chain was spinning out of my sleeve and the log was released from the end, the substitution saving me from certain injury, if not death.

I landed on a tree branch, my body shaking from exertion and adrenaline.

Orochimaru was already on the other end of the branch, and the smile that split his features had my teeth rattling.

"Usagi-chan... How you've grown since I last saw you," he purred as he easily evaded my vicious kick and slammed his palm into my chest, knocking me back.

And Kabuto landed beside him, and I felt my shoulders droop, the corners of my mouth tugging down insistantly despite my attempts to stop them.

Oh shit, was I going to cry? I could feel my eyes watering. I just wanted to give up so badly, to curl up in a corner. There was no way I was going to win this. When they were done with me, they would get Sasuke.

"Sasayaki... well, isn't this a pleasant surprise," Kabuto smirked.

Orochimaru was behind me within a second, and he caught me, trapping my arms and hefted me against his chest before I twisted around to punch him. Fast as a snake, he slipped a piece of paper onto my chest. Something was painted onto it, a seal of some sort that glowed the moment it made contact with me.

I thrashed in his grip but... my chakra stopped responding.

Then my beanie was ripped off my head, revealing my mop of white hair.

"HELP!" I screamed, wishing someone, anyone would hear.

"Shhh little one," he purred, "Unless you want to die."

I fell silent apart from the occasional sniffle and hiccup.

"If he's still around, no doubt the Kyuubi boy is too," Kabuto pointed out, walking towards us.

"Yes," Orochimaru murmurred, and he began petting my hair with his free hand, smoothing it over my head. I shrank from his touch, but there was nowhere to escape. I was trapped in his one-armed hold.

"I was terribly displeased when I'd heard you'd died, little Usagi-chan. But I suppose answers will have to wait."

Just as he finished speaking, Kabuto exchanged a nod and he dropped from the branch and lay down on the ground, and after a moment of confusion I realised he was pretending to be knocked out.

Then Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura arrived, causing me to gasp. They looked tired, but not too beat up.

"Hey you! We heard Sora scream, and we're here to save him! Let him go!" Naruto yelled. Did he not notice the body of the Chunin, or did he simply not care?

"No!" I yelled, despite Orochimaru's earlier warning. "Get away from here! You're outmatched! You're-"

Orochimaru tossed me off the side of the branch mid-sentence, and I yelped as I began to freefall. Without my chakra, I was sure to get injured from the fall.

This was... not going well.

* * *

 **Nyaa I'm sorry about how rushed and broken this chapter is, but hope you enjoyed it anyway! Also I made a wattpad of this fic so I can include pictures yay~**


	26. (Forest of) Death

Naruto broke off to catch me, clearly noticing something was wrong with the way I wasn't using any chakra.

"Why did you turn on your teammates?" Sasuke asked, stepping towards him.

"Could he be under genjutsu?" Sakura offered quietly.

"A logical conclusion, but no," Orochimaru chuckled. "I am simply not who I appear, I suppose."

Then he lunged, leaving the branch cracked in his wake. Sasuke and Sakura had no chance to react as they were thrown backwards.

Naruto and I hurried to join them, Naruto having to carry me up. I knew I would be useless without my chakra. Naruto might be able to reverse the seal, but we didn't have time at the moment.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Naruto growled.

"Oh, I simply came to visit Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru responded airily, causing Sakura to gasp. "I happen to have a vested interest in learning about the Sharingan. Some first-hand experience with a _natural_ Uchiha will prove to be useful."

The stress on 'natural Uchiha' had me pausing, confused. What did he mean by that?

Well, I could dwell on it later, because the next thing I knew killing intent crashed down on us. My ears rang from the feeling, and I saw Sasuke drop to his knees and spew. Sakura also fell to her knees, unable to do anything.

I felt dizzy from the pressure, but I was still functional.

As was Naruto, he didn't even seem to notice the killing intent.

"Ok pal, this just ain't going to fly," Naruto snapped. "I'm going to take you down for what you did to Sora!"

He launched himself at Orochimaru, and the only thing stopping me stopping _him_ was the fact I knew Orochimaru wouldn't kill him lest he disqualify Sasuke.

"I have no interest in you," Orochimaru informed as he caught Naruto's punch.

Naruto, ripped his hand from Orochimaru's grip and began a barrage of attacks, but he was cut off as Orochimaru kicked him in the gut, hard enough that he flew almost a hundred metres, breaking several trees in the process.

"Asahi!" Sakura cried, horrified.

I was forced to shove my two frozen teammates off the branch when a band of snakes shot towards us. I threw my hands up to protect my face and squeezed my eyes shut.

But the snakes receded before they could bite me, me being completely ignored as Orochimaru followed my two teammates down, who had thankfully broken out of their paralysis in time to catch themselves.

"RUN!" I yelled, unable to join them. I could only watch from the branch as the battle commenced. Sakura was screaming at Sasuke to win, just as in the anime. The battle also played out how the anime had depicted, up to the part where Orochimaru was roasted against a tree.

Sakura shrieked in terror as Orochimaru, despite being burnt to a crisp and pinned by wires, broke free with melting skin and then peeled his face off, revealing serpentine eyes and pale features beneath.

"What? H-how...?" Sasuke murmurred, more to himself than anyone.

"RUN!" I screamed, but that was the same moment Naruto returned. And his eyes...

"DON'T TOUCH MY FRIENDS!" He _roared_.

It was that exact moment Orochimaru put two and two together, and my heart somehow made its way to my throat.

"Asahi, stop! You can't-" Sasuke was cut off, because Naruto was already rushing for Orochimaru, canines bared.

And it was clear he had dipped into immeasurable power, the moment he smashed Orochimaru's face in and sent him flying. But it was a clone, and instead of a body flying, mud sprayed everywhere.

"Sakura! Go find help!" I yelled, breaking her out of her trance. She looked like she was about to refute me but she never had the chance because Orochimaru-

Smiled.

He appeared before the pink haired girl. She was too terrified to move and she paid the price.

The flick of a wrist, kunai in hand, and her throat was slashed open.

There was silence for only a second as Sakura dropped to the ground, then Naruto, his eyes blown wide, _lost it._

Within a millisecond Orochimaru had formed several hand signs and the four of us were slammed with a gust of wind so strong we were blown hundreds of metres in different directions. I was flung above the tree line, flying through the air, and because I could not access my chakra all I could do was curl up protectively as I began my descent.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"

The first tree I slammed into smashed through the meagre defense of my arms, and the next tree I hit knee-first and I felt a sickening 'crack' at the impact. Finally, my body found the ground and I skidded and rolled across it and until I came to a stop against a large root.

For almost a full minute, I could not move, so winded I was. And then the pain in my knee started, and I let out a cry of pain and frustration.

Where had the others landed? Would _Sasuke_ be ok?

Was... was Sakura _dead?_

I couldn't wrap my head around it, even when I replayed the moment in my head over and over, I couldn't find a single loop-hole. She had... she was...

I could feel the presence of the Kyuubi, a force of power so strong I could feel it even though I knew I was far from where Naruto had landed. He must be fighting Orochimaru.

I dragged myself away from the root, and made an attempt to stand, but it was quickly made obvious I wouldn't be moving anytime soon. The pain in my knee was unbearable _without_ movement, let alone with it.

And I began to cry.

I don't know how long it was that I spent, curled up in agony and clutching my knee, simply waiting for someone, _anyone_ to find me.

It was probably an hour later that Anko appeared, panting, her eyes wide as she caught sight of me. Then her eyes flickered to something behind me.

"Anko-sensei?" I whispered, my voice hoarse. "Wh-"

I never finished, because my body was lifted from the ground by a hand gripping the back of my shirt. I cried out at the pain shooting up my leg from the movement in my leg.

I flailed my arms, knowing who was behind me yet not daring to look.

"Sensei," I whispered. I won't lie that I was terrified, my voice high and oh so _pathetic._ "Please, help!"

Anko's featured warped into absolute _rage_ , set on the man behind me.

"How does it feel to have your own genin, Anko- _chan_. A life..." I squeaked as a hand gripped my chin, forcing my face to the side, so I could see his smug face, "...depending all on you?"

"Let him go, he has nothing to do with this!" she spat, taking a step towards him.

"Perhaps, but I can make it so _._ "

I gasped as Orochimaru bared his teeth. Then he pressed me to his chest, holding me in an embrace so he had access to my neck.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose.

"Sensei, sensei HELP!" This time there was pure panic lacing my voice, because I knew exactly what he was threatening to do.

"Hush," he cooed. "Sensei can't help you now."

And he was right, because she couldn't react fast enough. His fangs sank into the soft flesh of my neck, and before I could process what was going on I was tossed aside.

I heard a distorted scream of rage, and the clash of kunai. But I could no longer focus on the outside world.

There were pins, everywhere, stabbing into my skin. Ice poured through my veins. The world turned into fascinating shades of grey and rainbow, fragmented like glass.

* * *

Orochimaru continued to rile her up, even as she threw senbon at his face and shot pillars of earth at him.

There was such _hatred_ in her eyes, in her movements, yet she could tell it made him want to laugh. And that just made her angrier.

He was pleased; she could see it in his eyes. Pleased at hurting her, or perhaps at her progress, or at having the upper hand she didn't know. But there was a thread between them, tying them together. There always had been, and she suspected there always would be.

Until the day she killed him, of course.

She threw out her best jutsu, her strongest taijutsu, her sneakiest genjutsu. She was strong, no one could deny that. People feared her for her prowess, her temper and her bloodlust. And yet, somehow he was still far above her, like he had always been.

"How does it feel, to be stuck as a special Jounin? Doesn't it make you mad, that the village you fight for will never see past the fact you were _my_ student?"

"Don't pull your bullshit on me!" She snarled. "I'm going to kill you now!"

And that was when Orochimaru decided to end the fight. He brought up his spare hand and created a single seal. Anko gasped and clutched her neck. She could fight the pain for only a moment, before she sank to her knees with a low groan.

 _No..._

"I miss the days when you used to look up to me with such adoring eyes," he drawled as he walked over to her. "Unfortunately, I do have an exam to finish, so I must be going now. Do tell the Hokage that if he stops the exam, I will make him regret it."

"You arrogant _fuck_ ," she manages to gasp out between pained gasps. "I'll tell him, just... just leave Sora."

Her eyes flashed to the still body, and her chest ached.

"As my teammate he is required to pass with me. Don't bother coming after me."

"Orochima-!"

He disappeared with Sasayaki.


	27. Prelim

The fight to finish the exams had been a hard one. After he had fought the scary man that had been disguised as Yoroi, Naruto had been left tired and beaten with a seal on his stomach that had screwed over his control of the Kyubi chakra.

Sasuke had found him soon after, thankfully untouched.

It was getting dark by then.

"Should we..."

 _Give up_ , that's what Sasuke was about to say. And Naruto understood so, so well.

He wanted to give up so badly. As he cried into his forearms, the tears going everywhere, he considered it.

Was this truly what being a ninja felt like? This pain, this heartbreak, for absolutely no other reason than to pass a test? What is _ninja_?

Was this how every ninja felt, was this the sort of thing they went through every day?

But then, Sasuke slumped to the ground next to him. There they sat, shoulder to shoulder, watching the sun go down. Even in the torn up clearing, even with his body battered and bruised, even with a teammate who's body had yet to be found, it was beautiful. Even through blurry tears, the setting sun made everything beautiful.

Sakura might be dead, but until they found her there was no certainty. There was still hope. He would not give up yet. The world was an ugly place, but there were some things worth living for, some things worth hoping for.

"No," he said hoarsely, managing to refrain from sobbing. "We're not giving up. Not until we find Sakura's body."

* * *

"We made it..." Naruto whispered.

5 teams of Leaf genin, 3 of which are rookies, one Sound team and one Sand team.

He was lined up behind Sasuke, and behind Naruto stood Sakura, a thin stripe of red across her neck.

It had taken hours searching for her in the vast forest, their only lead a vague recollection of where she might have landed from that massive wind jutsu that Yoroi imposter had used.

But they had found her, the wound on her neck cauterized. It hadn't been deep enough to cut her windpipe, and it did not risk bleeding out, not with the cauterisation.

Why? They hadn't known then, and they still didn't know now, but all that mattered was that she was alive.

Naruto glanced over at where Sasayaki stood, her eyes downcast. He glared at her teammate, Yoroi (AKA the imposter). He had nearly killed Sakura, hurt his team, betrayed the Will of Fire.

Yet how was it he was so strong? Was he really a genin?

"The first match: Sakura Haruno of the Leaf versus Sora of the Leaf."

Naruto grimaced, but Sakura perked up.

"Hah, I'm finally going to show that bastard who's _really_ the weak one," she growled, punching her palm.

 _How can she be so enthusiastic, even though she almost died?_ Naruto wondered. Nevertheless, he gave her a thumbs up and a grin, even though he had been hoping to save it for Sasayaki.

He headed up the stairs with Sasuke, both of them keeping well clear of where Kabuto and Yoroi were headed. Kabuto had seemed harmless, but he couldn't be sure, not when he was on a team with that _monster._

They made their way over to where Akio and Anko were waiting. Anko's expression was dark, her eyes tracking Yoroi, leaving Naruto to believe she somehow knew of his traitorous actions also.

"Who do you think will win?" Sasuke asked, voice in his usual monotone.

"Sasayaki," Naruto responded immediately.

Sasuke grunted in response.

* * *

"Does anyone wish to forfeit?" the proctor asked, and I went to raise my hand.

Unfortunately it was not to be. Orochimaru gently caught my wrist and lowered it, and I swallowed.

Damnit.

Kabuto didn't forfeit either.

No one did, and it was this announced I would be fighting Sakura.

It was with a strange sense of relief I stepped to the other side of the arena, my mind far away. The past couple of days I'd been waiting for the first exam to end, I'd been fretting over the others (Sakura especially) avoiding Kabuto and Orochimaru, and traning. My chakra had been unsealed since I'd awoken after that fight.

Now, I knew Sakura was ok, my _real_ teammates had made it, and things would likely continue similarly to canon.

"I'm going to take you down after what you said to me!" Sakura yelled, her eyes ablaze, breaking me from my reverie.

I shrugged, taking on a cool demeanour. Now that I had the chance to fight someone in public like this, I felt decidedly tempered. Especially considering just _who_ that public included.

Also I wanted to look cool, and cool people never yelled in retaliation.

"You can try," I drawled, sliding my hands into my pockets, much like Shikamaru.

Her eye twitched, but she had nothing to say to that. Then the match began.

Now, let me tell you something; Sakura's skills are actually considered quite good for a _female_ ninja of her age. Let me explain; in this world, most girls are groomed to end up specialising in information gathering, medicine or (occasionally) infiltration.

This is, simply put, because they are considered weaker and because they are female, unable to carry out such dastardly tasks. Women are meant to be child-bearers and housewives.

Obviously it is absolute bullshit, a girl who trains hard enough can always reach the level of the boys even if the chakra levels and muscle mass of girls is biologically lower. She must work harder, yes, but she can compensate with her mind and by focussing on special talents.

But it is so deeply rooted in society that people haven't bothered to refute it. It also remains that the standards of female ninja are far lower than that of males, thus they have room to slack of, to be substandard and not be penalised for it. It is a ridiculous system, because of it female ninja have a far higher mortality rate than males.

It is why Sakura, who barely knows any jutsu and still spends more time on her hair and appearance, who prefers to diet than build strength, is allowed to be genin.

The unfortunate thing being that she doesn't seem to realise that this has happened, and that one day it will come to bite her in the arse.

Like today. And I had no qualms in showing her the truth. Especially after the fact she had almost died. I had almost lost a teammate because she was ignorant to her weakness, and somehow that was considered normal.

I would abide no longer. I would not let something like what had happened happen again.

"Is that all you've got?" I sneered, dodging her pathetic attacks. "You've always been the weakest of us, you know, but you seem blind to it!"

"Shut up!" she snapped, throwing a kunai with an explosion tag attached. I jumped away, dodging the resulting explosion.

I don't know how long I spent just dodging her pathetic attacks and laughing at her. I could see her face going red with humiliation, the shame beginning to take hold as she realised maybe, just maybe I was right.

It was cruel, but what can I say. In my eyes, it had to be done.

Plus, it was the perfect way for me to win without giving away any of my skills.

"Oi, Sora, just end the fight already. This is just pathetic to watch. You've made your point," Sasuke spoke.

Ah Sasuke, never one to twist his words. Some of the other teams laughed, Kankuro making an audible joke directed at her. I watched as Sakura's face curled with shock, and her eyes began filling with tears.

"I'm not going to stop until she gives up on being a ninja, or she gets stronger," I said. "We can spend all day here, Sakura."

That was the final straw.

"I forfeit," she barely whispered, though the way her eyes burned into me promised terrible things.

It was actually quite scary. I shouldn't have been surprised; I had literally spent the whole match humiliating her. There would clearly be consequences.

Clearly the guy managing the match hadn't heard her but had his suspicions.

"Sorry, did you just-"

"YES I FORFEIT DAMNIT! CHA!" And she threw down several explosion tags.

Well hey, at least she went out with a bang.

"You better watch out, Sora, you're going to regret looking down on me."

I smiled in response.

"I would hope so; I don't want you to stay weak forever."

I grinned smugly, not that it was really any kind of victory. Sakura stormed off, straight out of the arena.

Then I returned to the others, Naruto giving me a disapproving glance while Anko smiled and proceeded to punch my shoulder. Hard.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Why did you do that?"

Anko shrugged. "I feel like I have the responsibility as both your sensei and Sakura's. But, otherwise, good strategy," and we grinned at each other.

Akio sighed. "Shouldn't you be promoting teamwork above winning, Anko-sensei?"

"That's why I punched her!" she snapped. Akio sighed again, this time with disappointment.

However, my attention focussed on a certain red-haired Sand-nin across the room. Apart from the fact he was reeking a constant stream of bloodlust that only an idiot would miss, I noticed the way he was glancing around the room as if searching for something, or rather, some _one._

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and Anko's voice drifted into my ear, so soft even I could barely hear it.

"None of the genin missed the feeling of the nine-tails chakra during the first day of the exam; luckily none of them that we know of could identify it, but everyone is on edge."

I swallowed. Naruto's identity, or rather Asahi's, could come into question, as could everyones.

 _But there's already another junchuuriki here,_ I realised. It might be possible to turn suspicion away as soon as Gaara releases the one-tail, or everyone finds out about him being a jinchuuriki, since everyone would likely come to the conclusion that was the source of the chakra outburst in the forest.

I could only hope.

* * *

 **Yea, I could have made the Sakura/Sasayaki fight better, but what can I say, there isn't much interesting I can do with Sakura's current skill set.**

 **Also, please please please review! I haven't been updating as much as I used to because I don't get many reviews at all anymore and that makes poor old me sad and unmotivated.**


	28. Sealing

"Man, I just hope one of us doesn't have to fight... you know..." Naruto tilted his head in the direction of Yoroi.

"Or the Sand guy with the red hair, for that matter," Sasuke muttered.

"Yea. Just, whoever it is, be careful," I whispered.

We watched the screen as it spun through all the names of the genin.

"The next match will be... Yoroi of the Leaf against Rock Lee of the Leaf!"

Man, Lee really had shitty luck. This lifetime _and_ the last, it would seem.

"Hey, it's the kid with big eyebrows!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Should we warn him?" Sasuke asked lowly.

"Warn of what?" Akio asked curiously from behind us. Clearly, he didn't know of the situation.

All three of us looked at him.

I put my hand on Sasuke's shoulder warningly. If Anko had not told him yet, then he was not meant to know.

"Nothing," Sasuke said finally, and by then Lee was already on the arena, Yoroi facing him. Anko nodded to me dicreetly as I turned back to the fight.

Obviously, word was not meant to be spread about who exactly Yoroi was, not even to other Leaf nin. Sasuke and Naruto didn't know exactly who he was either, but if they described the fight it would raise alarms.

Maybe it was to do with controlling panic. The Hokage probably wanted to keep his head (and everyone else's) in the sand, until such time it was required.

"Begin!"

Lee began the fight with a barrage of taijutsu, which was effortlessly deflected by Yoroi.

Gai sensei was screaming encouragement as Lee kicked, punched and jabbed. He was fighting at about mid chunin level, and I could tell people were already getting bored watching, considering he wasn't relying on any jutsu.

Oh, it was impressive, no doubt about that. For a genin to be fighting at chunin level in any field, that is. But this _is_ the chunin exams, after all.

I'll be honest, I sort of hoped Orochimaru would just knock him out and be done with it. But it was not to be.

After a minute of being on the offense, Lee retreated warily, clearly waiting for Yoroi to retaliate.

And he did. His abilities were restricted to what the village knew of Yoroi, and so when Orochimaru attacked it was with kunai, explosives and a range of C-rank fire and wind jutsu. Yoroi's main weapon, his chakra draining technique, would be useless against someone who didn't use chakra.

It was really all odds against Yoroi, which was ironic considering his fight in canon. I didn't know how he planned to win this one without coming under scrutiny if he used any techniques that were out of character.

"Why do you think he is pretending to be so weak?" Sasuke asked us under his breath.

"Maybe he's hiding his abilities, like Sasa-chan did," Naruto reasoned.

I remained quiet. In whatever way I looked at it, this was a good outcome that Orochimaru was remaining in-character. It greatly reduced the chances of Lee receiving any catastrophic injuries, or worse.

There was a minute more of intense sparring, then;

"You are talented at Taijutsu, however are you incapable of ninjutsu or genjutsu?" came Yoroi's voice, a taunting edge to it.

Lee danced backwards from a high kick, his brow furrowing.

"I may not be talented at nin or genjutsu, but I make up for it with my taijutsu!"

There was a rough chuckle in response.

"You are under an illusion. Taijutsu can only take you so far, and while talented at taijutsu you are far from an all-round chunin."

"I will succeed and become a great ninja, with or without such jutsu! As long as I may protect my village, I will continue to fight!"

It was impossible to see what Orochimaru was thinking behind Yoroi's face accessories, but I imagined he looked rather unimpressed. After all, no one else in the crowd but a select few knew od Lee's _true_ taijutsu prowess.

"Lee! Take them off!" Gai yelled, his eyes filling with tears.

"Yes, Gai sensei!" Lee cried, also tearing up as he removed his weights.

Orochimaru waited politely, his arms crossed and tapping his forearm, the only sign of his impatience.

But when Lee dropped the weights, there _was_ a noticeable widening to his eyes behind his glasses.

And then Lee attacked, and there was an audible gasp from the audience as Lee displayed his true speed.

He was so fast, I could barely keep up with my eyes. Seeing it in real life... it was like nothing else. There was no doubt his speed was above jounin level.

"Wow, Bushy-brows is _good_ ," Naruto gasped.

I was satisfied to watch Orochimaru get pummelled, even if he was letting Lee do it. Five kicks, two jabs and a punch to the face later, Lee retreated once more.

"You should give up now," Lee told him.

Yoroi, who was battered on the ground, slowly got to his feet.

"Impressive," he drawled. "Maybe you do deserve a promotion, after all. However..."

There was an intake of breath as he raised his hand into a one-handed ram seal.

"Move, and I will detonate the tags I have planted on your body."

Lee froze, his mouth dropping open.

"Wh-what? When did you-?"

"You were in direct contact with me, were you not?"

There was silence. What would he do? The question hung heavily in the air.

"I will kill you in the next three seconds unless you give up. Three, two-"

"Forfeit, Lee! It's not worth your life!" Gai cried out.

There was a pause, a moment's hesitation.

"I forfeit," Lee finally said, his shoulders slumping. It was an anticlimatic end to what could have been an amazing battle.

"Winner; Yoroi of the Leaf!"

Yoroi strode off the arena floor as his match was announced, and Lee quickly checked himself for tags.

"Hey! There were no tags!" Lee yelled in horror. Yoroi just laughed.

"Isn't that cheating?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"Not at all; it was simple deception, no different to any genjutsu. In real life, that sort of thing has saved lives," Akio responded. Anko grunted an affirmative.

As Lee trudged off the arena floor, the next match was called.

"Zaku of the Sound versus Temari of the Sand!"

It was just as the two were walking on stage, however, that I found myself with a hand on my shoulder.

I turned around to see the Hokage behind me. I stared up at him, my mouth opening in shock. Naruto and Sasuke were also similarly surprised.

"I believe there is something we have to attend to, young Sora. If I may," and suddenly I was pulled into a shunshin.

I stumbled as I appeared in a familiar area. Familiar from the anime, that is. It was a large space interspersed with wide pillars every few metres; the whole place had an eery feel to it. We had arrived next to two circles, one inside the other.

The sealing.

I blinked up at the Hokage, who gestured at me to remove my shirt.

Oh no. Wasn't this where Orochimaru confronted Kakashi?

I took my shirt off slowly.

Maybe it wouldn't happen this time, because Kakashi wasn't here. Plus, even if he did come, it's not like he would do anything bad, would he? I never did understand why he bothered to confront Kakashi. It wasn't like he would have kidnapped Sasuke, since he still had the invasion to account for; such a blatant act would have had him dealt with before the final exams, rather than being let to walk about as he liked. The Hokage was strange like that, letting a criminal wonder about. I never understood that, either, despite Orochimaru's threat to Anko.

The only reason I could conclude, then, was that he wanted to create mischief, for lack of a better word.

"I'm going to seal the curse mark you received, Sora-kun. That thing strengthens the impurities of your thoughts, increases your negative emotions. It is dangerous. However, the seal is limited to your own decisions; it will not stop the curse-mark affecting you if you have no will to fight it."

I wet my dry lips and nodded, throwing my shirt to the side.

Luckily I hadn't hit puberty and was as flat as a board, otherwise it would have been awkward for the Hokage to find out I was a girl right here.

I sat down in the circle as the Hokage began painting seals on my body, and spiralling out across the circles. It wasn't long until he was done. My chest was tight with tension as he approached me, and began to make seals.

"Wa-wait!" I cried. "Can we postpone this? Just a day ot two? I'm really tired after the fight and-"

Hiruzen sighed, cutting me off.

"No, Sora-kun. Now, this will hurt a bit."

And, before I could save myself, his hand was on my shoulder and I screamed as I felt the seals craw across my body and spin themselves around the curse-mark. It hurt. A lot.

The upside was it only lasted a few seconds, and I collapsed onto my back as soon as his hand left my shoulder, barely conscious.

And then...

"It's been a while, sensei."

I could hear him, but my body was groggy, my limbs not functioning. I managed to lift myself for a second on one arm, to see him stepping out from behind a pillar, only to collapse again. I watched through half-lidded eyes, feeling my conscious try and flee me, darkening the edges of my vision.

Hiruzen sighed and seemed unperturbed by Orochimaru's arrival. He was no longer diguised as Yoroi, instead wearing the standard Sound jounin fare.

"What are you doing here, Orochimaru?" Hiruzen asked, his voice resigned.

"I thought you would be happier to see me. It's been so many years since we last saw each other, dear sensei," Orochimaru responded with faux disappointment.

"You should stay away from my village unless you want to be killed," Hiruzen said without inflection.

"Then why is it you have not rid the village of me already, hm?"

What was Hiruzen doing? Why was he holding back?

Hiruzen didn't respond, so Orochimaru just shrugged lightly.

"In any case, your endeavours to seal the curse-mark on Usagi-chan are useless; that is not my real curse-mark."

 _What?_

"It was a prototype, after all I didn't want him dead and this seal only has a death rate of one percent," he continued, smirking as he stepped closer. "It's only worth is that I can track the victim, create a chakra anchor for revival and keep them in line if I so wish. It's rather useful on my more obnoxious experiments. Allow me to demonstrate..."

His hand lifted into a ram seal, and suddenly I was crying out, writhing on the ground despite my fatigue, hand clutching at the mark. It felt as if my chakra had turned corrosive inside my body, burning me from the inside.

Now I knew how Anko felt.

"Enough," Sarutobi snapped. Orochimaru obeyed with a mild laugh, leaving me panting and fearful. Could he kill me at any time? Or was it just pain he could make me experience?

On one hand, I was thankful it wasn't the _actual_ curse mark. On the other, it was still pretty shitty.

"No offense Sensei, as fun as this is I didn't come here to see you. I want to talk with the adorable child behind you. We have much to catch up on."

Orochimaru once again stepped closer, and suddenly the Hokage's demeanour changed as he threw off his hokage robes, leaving him in battle armour beneath. He took a battle stance.

"Come any closer and I will not hesitate to make a scene," Hiruzen said coldly.

Orochimaru stopped and smiled coyly.

"My, my sensei aren't you the scary one. I suppose it doesn't matter, since the little one will be mine very soon indeed."

I squeaked in terror. He had just confirmed he was going to kidnap me. That was not ok. That was definitely NOT FUCKING OK.

Especially since no retrieval teams had managed to get Tenzo back and several years had already passed; it would be no different for me. Orochimaru was too proficient at hiding.

His lips quirked at the pathetic squeak I emitted, his eyes settling on me, predatory and amused. I stared back at him with wide, terrified eyes, despite the fact I swayed, on the verge of unconsiousness.

"Not if I have any say in it," Hiruzen broke in coolly. Thankfully his gaze returned to Hiruzen and he laughed, the sound lilting, mocking.

"Well, if you want to kill me, now is the time sensei..." and then he began to walk away, and after two steps in which Hiruzen did nothing, he disappeared in a shunshin.

After several moments passed in which he did not return, I curled up into a ball. My chest was understandably tight with anxiety, but I still fell unconscious.

* * *

 **Please reviewwww ~~**


	29. The Pervy Sage

**This references some of the omakes from my** **WoW: Plus** **fic (and early in this fic), so if you haven't already you should go read the ones based on The Gang.**

* * *

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, his lips a tight line beneath his mask.

"Where have you been?"

"Oh my, did you miss me?"

"You said you were going to be away to attend to a personal project."

"And I was."

"You weren't at your designated labs. You are breaching Akatsuki's terms."

Orochimaru hummed with agreement.

"The best projects take the longest time. I have been invested in this one for many years now. The Akatsuki will not stop me."

Kakashi was quiet.

"Do you want help?" Kakashi finally asked quietly.

He knew something was wrong. It had to be big if Orochimaru was keeping so quiet about it. Normally he took pleasure in describing, in detail, his various scientific endeavours. But this... this was something else.

The Hokage had contacted him himself, which was a massive danger to his cover, to request he manipulate the answers from him. A difficult task considering the man was a master of manipulation himself.

Orochimaru had infiltrated the chunin exams. Sasuke, Sasayaki and Naruto had all been in contact with him, and the mere thought caused his gut to clench painfully.

He was planning something concerning Konoha, and Kakashi was determined to find out what. Even if it meant offering his aid.

Orochimaru had the gall to _laugh._ He wiped the tears of mirth from his eyes while Kakashi remained stonily silent, his one eye betraying nothing.

"You really think I don't know, don't you?" he bared his teeth in a smile.

"You are a fool if you think I will part with information on my plans to a spy from Konoha. I can tell you, but then I would have to kill you, and I think I have rather grown fond of you Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi didn't even betray so much as a flinch.

"How?" he asked after a considerable pause in which Orochimaru observed his reaction closely.

"Traitor is a word that is bandied about with far too little thought. There are traitors, such as missing-nin, and then there are _traitors_ , the malicious, power-hungry ones that stay in the village so that they may use and abuse it how they wish under various guises. You are neither of these things, Kakashi-kun, but that does not mean there is not someone in Konoha who is."

There was only one name that sprung to Kakashi's mind, but he was hesitant to accept it. Still, he would have to contact the Hokage about what he had learned. If Danzo was parting with S-ranked secrets to a missing-nin, it did not bode well.

The Hokage would not be pleased.

* * *

Takeshi's voice was barely a whisper.

"What are you thinking, Junko?"

The Gang were in a small clearing just outside the village. It was only accessible through the help of one of Kiyoshi's contacts, whose house was built using the village wall as the back wall.

It meant when he had cracked a hole in it, it was not visible to the masses. He might have come under a suspicion as a spy otherwise. As it was, he had allowed the Gang to use the hole he had created.

In the little clearing stood a man that Takeshi had not seen for years, but someone he was not quick to forget.

The jester man that had approached Eri and Emi's stand when they'd been doing card tricks.

It was Junko that was facing him, face to face. Kiyoshi was further away, leaning against a tree in the shade, watching everything with sharp eyes.

The Gang had come a long way since they had last seen him. 5 years had passed. Junko was 20 years old and held herself with a confidence few street rats could ever dream of holding.

Kiyoshi was 19. Out of all of them, it was no secret he had suffered the most over the years. Every day, his skin grew sallower, the bags under his eyes more prominent than ever. And he always had a cigarette.

They used to try and take his cigarettes away, but he somehow always got more.

Akemi, now 14, was also not left unscathed. His dark orange eyes became cloudier every day, his vision slowly leaving him.

Emi and Eri, 17 now, had come far since the amateur card tricks they had played on the man before them.

And Takeshi himself, 11 years old. Sometimes he wondered if he was the only one who still remembered Yurei, and Sasayaki, and that Naruto boy that had been with them for a while.

The two that had disappeared. Whatever plans Junko and Kiyoshi had for them had evaporated.

"We are leaving this village," Junko said, her voice as cold and hard as steel. "And we're going to help this man in order to do it."

Their was silence following her statement, except a little giggle from the jester man, who observed them all smugly.

It was no secret the Gang had no future in the village. It was impossible for them to rise from their positions as gutter rats because of the education and conditions they had been deprived of.

But this? Was this really the answer?

"But what if this is a mistake?" Eri put in hesitantly. Junko had not been kind in the last couple of years. Every day, it was if she carried a slightly heavier burden on her shoulders. Every day, her eyes grew slightly more distant. Her temper grew that much shorter.

This was no exception.

She swung around to face the twins.

"I don't care! Where else do you plan to go? If you want to question me then leave! LEAVE!" She roared.

To their credit, the twins did not cower, but they remained stonily silent.

"Everyone is so tense! Why, all you have to do is open some sealed tunnels on the day of the chunin exams, and then I'll make sure you get out of this place. I'll even let you stay with a friend of mine," Jester man grinned widely. "Junko-chan and I have been planning this for a long time, haven't we? And it's all about to come to fruition. All so that you kiddies can have a second chance."

"I- I don't trust this person," Takeshi muttered, stepping towards Junko, willing to brave her wrath. "You might have been planning this for a long time, but that doesn't make this guy trustable."

Especially remembering the encounter with him five years ago.

Junko honestly looked like she would lash out, but Kiyoshi stepped in.

"No, he's right," Kiyoshi said, his voice dull. "But we have no choice. But we will stay together, and we will keep each other safe," he finished.

The jester man's grin widened.

"And I must thank you for your continued correspondance with Takumi so that we could make this possible, Kiyoshi-kun. You still have that card I sent you, yes?"

The rest of the Gang looked at him in confusion, but he did not bother to acknowledge them.

Instead he nodded at the Jester man.

"Good. Then I will be going."

And he disappeared.

* * *

I missed the rest of the prelims, but Naruto summed it up like so as we walked home:

The badass Wind girl smashed the spiky-haired Sound kid.

Shino forfeited to the creepy, panda-eyes Sand boy, which both us felt was a smart move.

Bushy-brow's teammate the weapons girl beat Sound girl.

Shikamaru outsmarted Kiba.

Kabuto forfeited after ten minutes of fighting Sasuke.

Hinata gathered the courage to fight and win against Ino.

Chouji was beaten by that Asshole with the Creepy White Eyes who humiliated Chouji almost worse than I had Sakura.

And finally Naruto beat Dosu, the guy covered with weird-ass bandages from the Sound.

That meant Puppet boy was given a free pass to the next round.

So that meant that Orochimaru, Temari, Gaara, TenTen, Shikamaru, Sasuke, Hinata, Neji, Naruto or Kankuro could be my next opponent.

"Who will I be fighting first?" I asked.

Naruto swallowed, causing my hope to plummet.

"You're fighting Gaara."

Of course I was fucking fighting Gaara. The Hokage chose the placements, he was probably sick of me and wanted me dead.

Wait... if the Hokage chose the placements, could there be a reason he placed me against Gaara? I wasn't a prime candidate to bring in the masses in a massive battle, that sort of thing is Neji and Sasuke's job. They're the prodigies everyone wants to see fighting.

Maybe...

Does he know Gaara is a jinchuriki? Does he want me to win, or to be there in case the worst happens?

It was a bit of a leap, but it was possible.

"When?" I asked dizzily.

"After Shikamaru fights Yoroi," Sasuke joined.

I would have to warn him.

"Who's before them?"

"No one," Naruto responded, scratching the back of his head. "After you and Gaara, it'll be me and Temari. Sasuke is last, fighting Kankuro.

Forfeiting sounded perfect just about then.

"Who should we train with?" Naruto asked suddenly. "Anko-sensei said that we might end up facing each other, so she won't train any of us because she doesn't want us to get jealous or learn each others plans."

I nodded distantly, my mind far away. If things went according to canon, it was unlikely there would be any matches past Gaara and I. Still, if I don't end up forfeiting I will have to find someone to train me.

"Maybe Akio-sensei will train me?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke glared.

"No. Akio-sensei is going to teach me medical jutsu."

Both of us turned at the same time and gaped.

"Medical jutsu? Why would you be learning that, especially when you're going to need to fight soon?"

Sasuke smirked.

"There's more to medical jutsu than just healing. Plus, if something like what happened to Sakura were ever to happen again..."

We grimaced.

"No one else is learning it, so I will," Sasuke finished coolly. "We always get hurt and no one can do anything about it!"

Wow, clearly there was more to this than expected.

"Ok fine. I didn't know Akio-sensei was a medical ninja though," Naruto added thoughtfully.

I frowned.

"Well he only told me a couple of days ago. He specialises in medicine, but he's also strong enough to be considered a jounin. I guess he decided he wanted to be a jounin ins-"

We were on our way past a shady looking bar when Sasuke was interrupted by a commotion. A tall, bulky man with a long, white mane was roughly shoved out of the bar and rolled across the street until he was directly in front of us. He was clearly drunk out of his mind.

Or maybe just pretending to be drunk.

 _What... no way! He planned this!_

Jiraiya really was something else. Everything about him screamed 'odd', and not only that but also damn was he _intimidating_. Besides being generally a giant, the warpaint on his face and the spikes on his large forehead protector gave the impression he was ready to fight at any moment; undoubtedly true.

Although his geta gave off another impression entirely. Either he was skilled enough to fight in geta, which was the case, or he was a harmless idiot. Not the case, but certainly the way he liked to portray himself and how most people would view him.

I gaped as Naruto tapped him with his foot. When there was no response he gave him a couple of light kicks, causing him to groan.

"Hey old man, get up, you're blocking the road," Naruto reprimanded.

"Hn. Let's go," Sasuke said, clearly unimpressed. We went to step over him when suddenly he woke up, spluttered a few obscenities, then heaved himself to his feet.

He looked around blearily, and then 'noticed' the three of us.

"Oh hey kids, do you know where the nearest hotspring around here is?"

"No," Naruto responded tartly, and we walked around him.

"Hey hey! Why so cold?" he asked, catching up with us and walking beside us.

"We need to find someone to train us! We're going to be in the Chunin exams this year."

"Oh! I would offer to train you, after all I am the great Toad Sage, women come from all over just to glimpse my immense powers. But alas, I have a tight schedule," Jiraiya said with a dramatic sigh.

"Yea whatever," Naruto uttered dismissively, causing Jiraiys to cry out dramatically. "As if we would want to learn from an old drunkard like you."

"Hang on, Asahi. On the off chance that what this guy is saying is correct..." Sasuke turned to him, one eyebrow raised. "Prove it."

"What! I don't have time for this. I'm going to find the nearest hotsprings for my... research..." he giggled perversely, the look on his face betraying his intentions.

And then, in a blast of wind, suddenly he was flying away over the rooftops.

Hook, line, sinker. There would be no way Naruto would be able to resist finding him after _that._

"Wow! He's the real deal!" Naruto yelled, and suddenly he was dashing off, leaving Sasuke and I in his dust. "Come back, Pervy Sage!"

Sasuke and I stared after him as he disappeared around a corner.

"Well... I'm going to find Shikamaru and warn him. Then I'll see if I can also get some... lessons from that creep," I decided, and Sasuke nodded.

"I'm going to train," he said simply, and we parted ways.

* * *

Shikamaru was training with his dad, I found at when I'd been allowed into the Nara clan. I was led to a small outdoor area in a small botanical garden between the Nara compound houses. There they were, sitting on cushions with their eyes closed, between them was a koi pond. It was eerily silent, the only sounds that of the wind blowing.

I was told not to interrupt, so I stood back and watched until Shikaku finally acknowledged me, looking up from the deep meditation he and Shikamaru appeared to be doing.

"Sora-kun, how may we help you?" Shikaku asked politely, rising to his feet.

"I- I would like to talk with Shikamaru. In private, if possible," I said, bowing my head a bit.

Shikaku was one of the few people in this village I genuinely respected and feared. I knew he was super smart – hence I wanted to get out from under his calculating gaze as quickly as I could. He was always watching, always observing.

Shikamaru seemed to be roused by the sound of his name and he looked up, noticing me, and stood up also.

Shikaku nodded and smiled, clapping his son on the back as he walked away.

Suddenly I thought of Kakashi, and my hands itched to hold Puggy. I hadn't touched my cute little stuffed toy in a long time, not since… well, I was sure it was still in Naruto and my apartment somewhere. I'd have to go and search it out this afternoon.

"How about we go somewhere more quiet?" Shikamaru offered, and I nodded.

We ended up in a small café, one right near the cemetery in fact. And once again I was reminded of Kakashi. This was where he'd brought me when I'd verbally attacked him for stabbing Yugao.

I swallowed at the memory. Damn. I'd been an angsty little shit.

It was also where I discovered mochi, and I didn't hesitate to order myself a plate of twenty once Shikamaru and I were seated in one of the private rooms. It was sound-proofed too.

"So Sora-kun, what did you want to talk about?" Shikamaru asked, having simply ordered a tea between us.

"I want to talk about your upcoming opponent Yoroi," I muttered.

"The one you were on a team with?"

I nodded. I knew I wasn't meant to tell anyone, but I honestly feared for Shikamaru. Plus keeping it quiet wouldn't help him.

"He's not what he seems. He- well, he's the one that gave me this," I mumbled, lifting my collar for him to see the curse mark.

Shikamaru's eyes widened.

"What is that?" he asked finally.

I sighed.

"It's some sort of fuuinjutsu thing…" I trailed off hesitantly. "In any case, Yoroi isn't who you think."

There was a pause, and Shikamaru let out a long sigh.

"I know," he said finally, causing my eyes to widen. "All these secrets and mysteries. I know there was something wrong the moment you finished the chunin exam with the other two, Kabuto and Yoroi, in record time. Not only that, but I felt that monstrous chakra. I know…"

His eyes simmered with something incomprehensible as he looked at me. He was looking at me so intensely I began to squirm.

"You are not who you seem, either. And neither is Asahi. And I… I know something is wrong. My father is on edge. Something big is coming, you are somehow caught in the middle _,_ " he finished finally.

I didn't know what to say. My mouth opened and closed.

"Sasayaki," he whispered the name, as if testing it on his tongue. "Sasayaki," he repeated, this time with more assurance. "Please. Tell me everything. From the beginning."

I swallowed.

Damn Nara and their perceptiveness.

I thought about it long and hard, weighing up everything. There would be no coming back from this. If Danzo ever found out, I'd be a head short. The question was; did I trust Shikamaru?

That is really what it came down to.

"Ok," I said, hesitant yet not. I knew this was the right thing. "I will tell you everything. But we need Sasuke and Asahi – no Naruto, with us. Meet me at 4am tomorrow at the haunted house; you remember the place?"

And, with a deep breath he nodded.

* * *

 **Also wanted to say thank you so much to all the support I received! I didn't realise I had so many lurkers, it was such a nice surprise. I will try my best to keep updating as much as I can and will try and prioritise this fic.**

 **I have posted the start of the new fic though, it's called the Lost Kid if anyone is interested.**


	30. Secrets (Recap II)

**So this is sorta a recap chapter. This baby made me kinda sad to write, actually, cos I am reminded how much shit I have put poor Sasa-chan through. And to sum it up so plainly... ugh.**

 **Also basically did no editing on this so apologies for bad writing lol**

* * *

If I was honest, I wasn't surprised Shikamaru knew, or had guessed. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'd always had the niggling suspicion he knew too much.

But the fact he was finally acting, rather than standing back and letting everything happen; it showed how grave our situation really was becoming.

Not that we ever could have imagined the true gravity of it, never in our wildest dreams.

* * *

"YOU TOLD SHIKAMARU!" Naruto almost screamed.

"Shut up! I did not tell him anything! I said I _would_ tell him- he figured out by himself who you and I are!" I hissed, shoving my hand over his mouth. I'd brought Sasuke to Naruto and my apartment and had promptly told them the news.

Naruto appeared to be hyperventilating. Sasuke, however, simply looked thoughtful.

"What parts will you tell him?"

I hesitated. There was no way I was bringing up my past life obviously, but the rest was fair game to me.

"Should we leave out the truth about Kakashi?" Naruto asked, finally seeming to come to his senses.

"But then we would have to tell him about Itachi," Sasuke reasoned. "That's irrelevant anyway."

It was in that moment that I suddenly realised – there were things not even Naruto and Sasuke knew about me. Like the exact details of my time and indoctrination into Root, the mission during which I met Orochimaru, the massacre of Yurei, Lady and the Maidens – it felt like an age ago.

But if I wanted to explain everything, I had to start from the start. The _very_ start. Then maybe we could piece together some shreds of evidence as to what Danzo and Orochimaru's true intentions were. It was unlikely, but I could hope.

"You two will be in danger," Sasuke pointed out quietly. "If anyone finds out…"

Naruto heaved a sigh.

"Ok, let's do this. Who cares about the stupid rules; this is about us and our comrade. I don't want to keep us a secret anymore either. I want to be myself. Even if it's just to one other person."

I understood, deep in my heart, exactly how he felt. I had grown tired of calling myself Sora, of pretending to be someone I'm not.

"Ok. Let's do this. And Sasayaki; you will tell us everything?" Sasuke asked, his voice wavering slightly.

Naruto turned to me, wide eyed, finally realising the implications.

"Everything?" he whispered breathlessly.

I nodded. If I was going to do this, I was going to go all out. I was going to go against Danzo's orders, and I would do it right. The thought filled me with equal amounts of triumph and terror.

However, there was one problem.

"Naruto, I need you to look at this."

And then I opened my mouth wide and showed them both the seal.

There was a silence, Naruto emitting an 'ahh' of realisation.

"That's why you could never tell us," he mumbled. "I think I can do something about this."

* * *

I cuddled with Puggy as we waited in the old house of one Orochimaru himself. Someone had obviously redone the seals and fixed the door since the last time we'd been here. It made me wonder what, exactly, had come of Mizuki this time around. Did he still come here for his strange, undercover dealings?

Naruto, Sasuke and I were huddled together on one of the beige couches to keep warm. It was freezing out; fog covered the village, dampening everything under its cold touch. We didn't dare light the fire in the hearth of the house, after all the chimney would alert anyone looking to our presence.

I was nervous. My heart beat in my throat. 10 minutes later there was a hesitant knock on the door.

Naruto went to answer. He had deactivated the fuuinjutsu surrounding the place, and he would reactivate it in order to give us a semblance of privacy.

However, when he came back, he was not only with Shikamaru but Ino and Chouji also.

I frowned.

"Shikamaru what-"

"We are a team," Shikamaru interrupted me before I could finish. "What you tell me, you tell us."

Naruto and I traded uncertain glances, but surprisingly it was Sasuke who spoke up.

"He's right," he said. "We need to trust each other."

Naruto and I nodded, and team 10 dragged the sofa next to our so it was facing us, and then they sat down.

Ino and Chouji looked overall nonplussed.

"Anyone care to explain what we're doing out here at four in the morning?" Ino grumbled irritably.

"We have something to tell you. Sora, you start," Sasuke motioned for me to begin.

I opened my mouth.

And I spoke.

* * *

When I was five, the brothel I lived at was massacred.

In retrospect, there was a reason I was chosen. The reason, I don't yet know, but there are hints of it in hindsight. I realise now that the reason I came onto their radar was because of my recent interaction with one Naruto Uzumaki. But we can get to him later.

In order to bring me in, this organisation cut my closest ties first.

Hence the massacre. It was easy for them to massacre my brothel; shady dealings always happen in the red-light district and a loss of one establishment wasn't really cause for any investigation.

And that was really the beginning of everything.

I went through brutal, relentless training. Not surprising, considering that Root is an organisation that ensures that the Hokage can turn a blind eye to the darker, messier resolutions a village must commit. Hence our village may pretend to be the most peaceful, kind village at the expense of a small population of it.

I was lucky, however; unlike most recruited into the system, I was given a primary target to watch over; Naruto Uzumaki, junchuuriki of the nine-tailed demon.

I don't know why such a thing was ordered. I think, however, that Root's founder, a man called Danzo Shimura intended for me to be a sort of secondary assurance to keep the nine-tails at bay, because he ordered me to be taught a chain style that can inhibit tailed beasts.

I feel he had other intentions too, but perhaps they were thwarted since his emotional training did not work on me.

In my first year of Root, I was ordered to go on a mission, because there was apparently information on S-ranked nin Orochimaru's latest hideout location. I can tell you now, I wasn't there because of my skill. I was bait.

Why? Again, I don't know. But I do know that this mission had a secondary objective that only the other Root member assigned to the squadron knew of. He went by the name Ushi.

I saw him pass a scroll to Orochimaru. I still can't say if he was acting alone, but under the circumstances I am most certain that it was Danzo behind it.

That is also the mission on which I met Itachi Uchiha. We were an odd squadron to say the least; Itachi was only a kid then, even Kakashi, Tenzo and Yugao were teenagers or barely past it. They were skilled, but still… to send us against an S-ranked missing nin? I have a feeling I wasn't the only one meant as 'bait'. In any case, you won't know Yugao or Tenzo; Yugao died on that mission, and Tenzo was taken away. As I said; bait.

Well, he took the bait, but not all of it. Not yet, in any case.

After that mission things looked up for me. I went to the academy, made great friends, was a prank artist with Naruto. Don't tell anyone, but we were the 'Demonic Duo' everyone always talked about. One day I hope we will return to our reign of glory when everything is said and done.

You might remember that I wasn't there a lot of the time. When I wasn't with Naruto, I was training with the teacher teaching me to restrain the Kyuubi.

Otherwise, I was helping the Gang, often with Naruto hence we wouldn't show up that often – it's been so long. I – well, we miss them. But they're another matter entirely.

But in any case, my time spent at the academy was fun but it wouldn't last.

Why don't you go on, Sasuke.

.

.

.

A good friend of ours died when we were around 7-8 years old, for me he was my cousin. His name was Shisui Uchiha. You three might remember that Naruto and Sasayaki didn't have a great reputation back then; they were the ones that took the blame when he died, since they'd recently started hanging around my clan. They were shrouded in mystery for me, too, but I came to actually like them after a while, even if they can be idiots. And I knew it was not them that had killed Shisui.

I knew it wasn't my brother, either.

Naruto, Sasayaki and I used to spend time searching out this house we're sitting in now, trying to unlock its secrets. One of many. We haven't been back here in a long time. The last time we were in here, was the day before my clan was massacred.

You might remember that that was the day the Kyuubi was unleashed in the village for the second time. I won't go into detail about what happened, but Sasayaki and Naruto did not die, as the population was lead to believe. They were instead placed in Root – or returned to, in Sasayaki's case.

Since I knew the truth, they could see me occasionally, and could keep up their 'Demonic Duo' pranks and help with the Gang sometimes too. It was lucky; they weren't forced to stay in the program for life, but instead Danzo had to relinquish his power over them the minute graduation came by.

You remember the new transfers. Asahi and Sora. Well, you know now it was never Asahi and Sora.

Naruto, tell them about the exams.

.

.

.

Man, I was so excited when I heard the chunin exams were rolling around. It was like the best thing ever, 'ttebayo! But then it was almost instantly screwed up because _someone_ had to go and piss off Sakura and request to be placed on another team.

But whatever. I could deal with it. I ended up with Sasuke and Sakura on my team, while Sasa-chan was with these two weirdos.

I figured Sasa-chan would be fine, cos sh- er, he's _Sasayaki._ But then that Yoroi guy turned out to be some kind of monster! I'm not kidding. I maybe even, um, unleashed the Kyuubi a bit when I thought Sakura died. That's what that feeling was that everyone was talking about.

Anyway, Yoroi managed to blow us all in different directions, so I ended up stranded somewhere when I lost control. But even in Kyuubi form, he could easily keep up with me! It made no sense. No genin could keep up so easily!

In the end he hit me with this weird, glowy fingers move that destabilised my seal. It created fuuinjutsu on my stomach that I couldn't remove myself because it required a jutsu base, not an ink base, and I haven't got around to those kinds of fuuinjutsu yet. Anyway basically I was knocked out after that, but the Pervy Sage I met yesterday managed to remove it so he really is the real deal.

And also, Sasayaki got this strange seal from Yoroi that even I can't decipher, but basically it's a tracking seal, chakra anchor and can be activated at any time to cause extreme pain.

So the hokage took him away to seal it, and that's when this Orochimaru guy appeared, right? And _he_ activated the seal, so I reckon he's impersonating Yoroi! Sasayaki said that he threatened to kidnap her and the hokage did nothing about him even though he could have fought him then and there.

Well anyway, That's basically it. I guess we're telling you because we figured you guys could help us figure out what's going on. Something big is going to happen soon, I can feel it.

* * *

There was a silence for several moments, and then…

Ino burst out laughing. She laughed so hard she bent over at the waist, slapping her knee.

Chouji chuckled uncertainly, though his eyes were on Shikamaru, whose face was serious.

"Man how long did it take you guys to make up such a story? It's fantastic! But you don't seriously think we're going to fall for it, do you?" she asked, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes.

The three of us exchanged glances.

"Ino," Shikamaru said quietly.

Her smile faded.

"It's impossible! First off, you two don't even look like Sasayaki and Naruto!"

Naruto pulled down his mask that hid his whisker marks and removed his contact lenses.

"I dyed my hair. We couldn't possibly return to the village as we were; people would have killed us."

No one missed the tears in his eyes; of relief or the pain of remembering, I don't know, but he wiped them away quickly.

I took off my silver sunglasses and removed my beanie, letting my white hair fall out. Then I clung to Puggy because had we done the right thing in telling them?

Ino was gaping.

"But… You guys were the Demonic Duo? Those guys were famous! Everyone thought they'd just taken a hiatus or something."

I was surprised that was the one detail she had decided to focus on.

"Ino. They are telling the truth. So much makes sense to me now, but it also leads to more questions. Like what is special about Sasayaki. What was the purpose of the correspondence between this Danzo man and Orochimaru? And if Orochimaru is impersonating Yoroi, why? And why did the Hokage do nothing about him?"

Ino was quiet for a long time as we discussed theories. I considered proposing the idea of an invasion, but there wasn't enough evidence for it, so I stayed quiet. Plus, even if I told them and they believed me, what could they possibly do?

One thing I was worried about was the fact that, now that Orochimaru was pretending to be Yoroi, who was going to be the Kazekage?

"Maybe Sasayaki has a hidden kekkei genkei," Chouji mumbled among the speculations.

But the suggestion was quickly shot down, because it was extremely unlikely.

"I think… this Orochimaru man… have you guys heard of the sannin?"

Everyone nodded. Of course. We'd all heard of the sannin.

"As far as I can remember, Orochimaru was the name of one of them. I heard that, when he left the village, the hokage spared him. Perhaps he still has feelings for his old student."

There was a bit of quiet after that.

"Not only that," Shikamaru finally continued. "I've noticed my dad has been very on edge. The hokage already knows something is coming. Whatever it is, he's planning for it."

There was a sigh of relief from Ino, and Chouji's shoulders relaxed. The hokage knew, or at least was expecting something.

But in the last timeline, him knowing hadn't been enough. The village had still been attacked, and the hokage himself was killed. Back then he know of Orochimaru's interference in the exams, yet as far as I knew he did nothing then and look where that got him.

Dead.

Chouji and Ino may have somewhat relaxed after Shikamaru's statement, but the rest of us knew better.

 _Just because he knows, doesn't mean terrible things won't still happen._

"So… what now?" Ino asked, after a while.

"We do nothing. There is nothing we can do; the hokage is likely doing everything he can for the moment," Shikamaru said grimly.

"He's right," Sasuke muttered darkly. "He must have something planned if he hasn't removed Yoroi form the exams yet. What are you going to do about your match, Shikamaru?"

"I will fight as per usual. We will be surrounded by Leaf's ninja, so should anything happen hopefully they'll be quick enough to interfere."

"You know… you could all drop out," Ino offered hesitantly. "I have a feeling that whatever is going to happen, it will be at the tournament."

Naruto stood up abruptly before anyone could say anything.

"Ino, we will not back down. If we quit, we may regret it after. Better us than someone who is oblivious. We are going to prepare, and we will fight, and whatever happens, we will be ready!"

I smiled crookedly. I was almost ashamed to have considered quitting myself.

"Dobe, using such big words," Sasuke said, though he was smirking slightly.

So it was agreed. And while we hadn't really come up with any answers, we were going to prepare for the worst, whatever that would be.

Even if it wasn't enough.

* * *

 **30 chapters woot! Can't believe it lol. Any theories about the answers to Shikamaru's questions?**


	31. Revelations

**Soooo I _was_ going to reveal the not so secret secret in a far more dramatic fashion but then I figured that would probably be overkill.**

 **And I think everyone has waited long enough for me to finally _confirm_ the not secret secret.**

* * *

Jiraiya was pissed, and maybe a little bit apprehensive too.

He wanted answers. Wanted to get rid of this horrible suspicion in his mind that was _hopefully_ completely unfounded. It could just be coincidence, right?

And if it wasn't, there would be _hell_ to pay.

Thus, with this goal in mind, he slipped through the window of the Hokage's office, straight past his ANBU guards that simply sighed in resignation.

The Hokage was at his desk, sorting through a heap of junk- ahem, paperwork.

It didn't mean he didn't notice his ex-student's entry. And the sigh he heaved, that long, drawn out sound was enough confirmation and Jiraiya felt his heart drop like a brick in his chest.

But no, he needed verbal confirmation.

"How may I help you, Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya leaned against the back wall, forcing the Hokage to swivel in his chair.

"Sensei, good morning to you too. Is there maybe something, just a little, teeny, weeny _something_ you maybe have been withholding from me for a few years now?"

Jiraiya's expression was bland, not betraying his true inner turmoil… and rage.

The Hokage rubbed his face with his hands, sighing once more. He knew his student well; knew what was under that neutral façade.

"I was going to tell you. But I needed you to focus on your tasks, the village needed all the intel you could gather. And in all honesty by the time I knew, there was nothing you could have done. Danzo found out before us all."

Jiraiya breathed out through gritted teeth, causing a faint hissing noise. The first indicator of his true anger.

"How long have you known?"

"About five years now."

"And Danzo?"

"The same."

There was a silence, Jiraiya pushing off the wall and coming to stand in front of the seated Hokage.

"And the mother?"

The Hokage set his pipe down, looking out the window absently.

"As far as I have gathered, a simple prostitute, possibly an immigrant from the land of Lightning. That was all I could find. She died during the childbirth."

Jiraiya shook his head and turned away.

"I can't believe you. I can't believe you would keep this from me. My own child, Sensei. And I never even knew. Not until now. How dare you keep this from me!"

His voice cracked towards the end, becoming hoarse.

"Jiraiya, I-"

"Save it, Sensei. I don't _care._ Tell me; who else knows?"

There was a hesitation, and Jiraiya didn't miss the way the Hokage swallowed minutely. Oh Kami. This was going to be bad.

"Orochimaru found out-"

"OROCHIMARU!" Jiraiya roared. "Orochimaru knew before me? I need to take the boy away! I need to protect him!"

"Jiraiya! Calm yourself. He will be protected here. Taking him away will only lure Orochimaru to you; you will become compromised. He will be much safer here."

"Orochimaru is going to be in the village for the chunin exams; you know as well as I he intends to sabotage the exams and kidnap either Itachi or his brother, and perhaps even strike the village. At least let me take him out for the duration of the exams."

"Removing him for that duration will draw attention and the village will grow restless. Not only that, it will only broadcast your relationship to him. He will become far more endangered after that."

Jiraiya slowly on the edge of the Hokage desk and groaned into his hands.

"I wish you had just _told_ me."

"I know. I'm sorry."

There was silence.

"I always wanted one, you know. A kid. I guess it really is as they say; be careful what you wish for. Kami, I don't even know his _name!_ "

The Hokage's voice was gentle.

"Jiraiya… I know it is hard… but I believe it is best to let this one go. He can and will be used against you; the less attached you are, the better. Despite Danzo's early intervention, he has resisted conditioning and I managed to get him out of the program. He has friends; you saw him with the Uchiha and Minato's son. He has his own life and has made do alone; he will be fine."

"And if Orochimaru gets him?"

"…then the village will try its best to retrieve him. But you know how hard Orochimaru is to track. He would be in Kami's hands."

Jiraiya looked up at the picture of the Fourth, and something sparked in his dull gaze.

"…No. He is my responsibility. I might not get another chance like this. I will stick around until after the exams, as you have requested. Then I'm going to take him with me. And Minato's kiddo too."

The Hokage didn't look surprised; his expression was resigned but a small smile quirked his lips.

"You would have to take the Uchiha boy then, too; the three are inseparable."

* * *

"I can't believe you never told us!"

Naruto had rounded on me the moment team ten left, the friendly façade he had up dropping to show his hurt and anger.

"What was I mean to say?" I snapped back. "It was never the right time! How was I meant to bring up such a subject?"

Sasuke and I watched, with widening eyes, as tears began to pour down Naruto's cheeks. He held his palms over his face, his lips tugging downwards as if he were attempting to hold back sobs.

"Naruto!" I yelped, horrified. "Naruto, what is it? Look I'm sorry, it's just… it never seemed right to talk about the Mischievous Maidens or the fact I was a… a _spy_ …"

This didn't seem to be the right thing to say.

"BAKA!" he screamed through tears, his voice cracking. "I never knew… I never knew what you were going through! Why would you never tell us? I trusted you! All those times you told me everything was ok…"

And then he was running out of the room, the house, slamming the door behind him.

I felt the blood drain from my face as he left, and I clenched my hands around Puggy.

"He's right, you know…" Sasuke said quietly, also walking out. "We trust you. If you want to keep it that way, you shouldn't hide such things from us."

And then he, too, disappeared and my mouth dropped open. I couldn't believe it.

Why was I getting _guilt tripped_ for this? I had just told them everything! Everything they always wanted to know about me. I had grown up beside them and they had accepted me and my secrets, but now that I had told them they decided I was untrustworthy?

I scowled and stormed out.

Life is so not fair.

* * *

Fortunately, after Naruto had his little breakdown, I was quickly forgiven. For the moment, anyway; we had far greater things to worry about.

And so, the next morning, Naruto let me tag along to train with Jiraiya.

While he was leading me to wherever we would be training, he began to fill me in on what he had learned about Jiraiya yesterday.

"I'm not kidding, this guy is a seal master. For him to be able to remove that seal Orochina – Orochimari? Orochi-teme put on me, with just one attempt, he knows his stuff. I think he'll be able to teach me more about fuuinjutsu! I showed him what I could do yesterday, and I think he was super impressed! What are the chances he happens to be a seal master? So cool! But he's also a total perve…"

We landed next to a stream surrounded by foliage. It was a nice spot; it didn't escape my notice that it was conveniently near a waterfall, which was a commonly known hotspot for people to swim i.e. women in bikinis.

Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet with excitement as we waited, and I myself had a tight coil of nervousness and anticipation in my gut. The idea of learning from a sannin; it was like a dream come true! Maybe I could even become his apprentice! He could teach me how to be badass! Not that I wasn't already, but there is no limit to badassery one can learn.

I mean, I knew that I would meet Jiraiya at some point, but it didn't make it any less exhilarating. Even if my first time seeing him, drunk on the ground, was less than inspiring. But I knew it was an act.

Ten minutes later, there were several high-pitched screams coming from the direction of the waterfall, and a moment later Jiraiya came flying into the clearing – and this time it was not at all glorious or spectacular. He faceplanted onto the ground between Naruto and I, his face glowing red from several handprints.

"Pervy Sage! Pervy Sage!" Naruto bounced enthusiastically beside him, seemingly not noticing the man's state. "Let's go! Teach me! Oh, and I brought my friend today, he wants to learn from you too!"

Jiraiya rolled over and sighed, squinting against the sun.

"Ugh… another runt to waste my time on. Just what I need."

Then he dragged himself to his feet as his words sunk in.

I take back everything I said about him. This _bastard;_ he's not spectacular! How could I have even thought it! I bet he wasn't acting yesterday, either, the useless turd!

"Hey!" I shrieked, my anticipation and nervousness vanishing within seconds. "I'm not a _runt_! I'll kill you!"

I lunged at him and pounded angrily on his chest. He yawned as if bored, and then he patted me on the head patronisingly.

"Sure kid. Anyway I don't have time for this. I'm in the middle of my _research._ "

"What! But you promised!" Naruto cried.

"I didn't promise anything! I said to meet me here in the morning, and here I am!"

"You're just making excuses!" Naruto screeched, outraged, and joined me in trying to tackle him. I had my arms around his midsection and was trying to push him over, but he was as solid as a rock.

"Too bad."

And then he disappeared, causing me to tumble to the ground as I found myself grappling at nothing. Naruto landed on my back, but I was not deterred. We were on our feet within an instant.

Naruto and I didn't even need to look at each other to be on the same page.

Naruto created several clones that promptly split up, and I joined the original.

"Let's try the northern onsen first!"

"Got it!"

We found him not long after, not at an onsen but at a bar. He was trying to chat up a girl.

Of course that would not do. We quickly prepared a simple prank that consisted of Naruto using his sexy jutsu and luring him outside where I would be on the roof with a bucket of paint.

It probably wasn't the best way to endear him to us, in hindsight. But at least we got sweet revenge, right?

He yelled in horror as the paint splashed all over him, turning his hair a light green.

"What was that for, you stupid brat! Now how do you expect me to get the ladies- I mean, my research done?"

"Serves you right," I sneered in response, while Naruto fell to the ground laughing, his henge dropping. "And if you don't teach us, there'll be more where that came from!"

Jiraiya sniffed haughtily.

"Fine, I will teach you. But! Buy me lunch first."

"Yatta! Ichiraku ramen here we come!" Naruto yelled, punching the air with his fist.

A quick water jutsu later and the paint left his body and dissipated.

Naruto and I rushed him towards the Ichiraku joint, our enthusiasm having returned tenfold. Any excuse to get ramen was welcome.


	32. Kyuubi Trio

**So I've noticed that my earlier chapters are far more well written that the later ones. My recent chapters have been hella rushed. Eh I hope they're still alright?**

* * *

Half way through our meal, in which Naruto was telling Jiraiya about my 'super awesome chain technique that could withhold the Kyuubi,' there was a commotion outside.

Said commotion flew into the Ichiraku joint, wrapped one arm around my neck and the other around Naruto's.

"Guess who~" she cooed into our ears while strangling us.

We choked and spluttered indignantly in her grasp.

"S-sensei!" I managed to squeak out, scrabbling at her strangling hold.

"Oh! Hey Jiraiya-sama, long time no see!" Anko finally let us go and turned to Jiraiya, grinning. We gasped for breath as she began to talk. Surprisingly, Sasuke walked in after her as well.

"Anko-chan! Look at you, so grown up! What fine assets you ha-"

"Hey! That's our sensei you're talking to!" Naruto yelled.

Anko just laughed.

"How do you know our sensei?" Sasuke asked, taking a seat beside me.

"We go way back, when I was even more young and handsome than I am now-"

"I was Orochimaru's apprentice," Anko interrupted him. "And he was Orochimaru's teammate, so we saw him often, usually when he came to annoy sensei- I mean, Orochimaru."

The mouths of Naruto and even Sasuke dropped considerably, and I realised then that they didn't know of Anko's past.

"No way! You were the student of that- that-" Naruto looked like he wanted to puke.

"It does explain the snakes," Sasuke muttered.

Suddenly Naruto was on his feet, his mouth gaping, pointing at Jiraiya.

"W-wa-wait b-but Orochimaruwasasannindoesthatmeanyourhisteammatesoyou're-you- you're a SANNIN!"

People glanced over at where we sat, the screech having very much gained people's attention.

"Oi, oi! Keep it down!" Jiraiya said. "And what do you mean, why are you so surprised? Of course I'm a sannin! I'm a wandering sage, a man of immortal beauty and strength-"

"He must be the weakest sannin; I bet his team had to carry him," I stage whispered into Naruto's ear, and Jiraiya fell off his chair dramatically.

Anko laughed at his expense and clapped me on the back.

"Why are you two here, anyway?" I asked after a moment.

"Akio-sensei had to leave on a mission for a week, so I asked Anko-sensei to teach me but when I told her about you and this guy that was going to train you she said I should get lessons with him too," Sasuke said, turning his gaze to Jiraiya dispassionately.

"WHAT! Another one! Anko-chan, I have enough small people begging me for training," Jiraiya groaned, sitting back on his chair.

Small. He just called me – well, us, but that was inconsequential - small. I did not tolerate such insults to my height.

"Oh yea? Who's begging? We don't need _you!_ Anko-sensei can train us just fine!" I growled.

"B-but I want to learn to summon toads!" Naruto cried, the traitor.

"Well I'm not training you brats; this is my time to relax! I can finally eat dango 24/7 without having to ponder ways to torture- I mean, train you! So later, suckers!"

And with that, Anko disappeared.

My head thunked on the table.

* * *

"Ok kids, here's the deal; you, broody, I'm going to teach you to enter Naruto's mind and talk to the nine tails. If anything goes wrong, we'll have chain boy here as back-up."

"WHAT!" Naruto and I screeched at the same time.

That sounded like a Very Bad Idea to me.

"Calm down, sheesh. You'd think you had no idea I was a sannin. Naruto, you can't go very far with your Kyuubi transformation because otherwise you lose control. In a situation like that, it is too dangerous to your allies for you to fight, even if you have Sora to reign you in when needed."

"So… you want me to learn to enter Naruto's mind, I assume with my Sharingan, confront the Kyuubi and somehow make it give Naruto complete control when fighting," Sasuke summed up blandly.

"Well, essentially, but in the best-case scenario you would be able to control the Kyuubi yourself."

"You're crazy," Sasuke decided, but I could hear an edge of excitement in his voice.

It really was an outrageous idea, yet…

It was genius.

"I know a bit about the Sharingan, but I don't know exactly how it is that it can control tailed-beasts but it is possible. So, I'm going to spend some time training with you so we can figure it out. Asahi and Sora, you two can work on this,"

And then he tossed us a scroll.

"That's the toad summoning scroll. Sign it in blood and put your fingerprints at the bottom; I'll teach you the hand-signs."

"I don't want to summon _toads_ ," I pouted. "They're _lame._ I'm going to get a better summons one day!"

Also I didn't want to steal Naruto's thunder. But mostly I just hated toads.

Jiraiya proceeded to cry while Naruto excitedly went ahead and signed it. Jiraiya gave him the rundown of the seals, and then turned to me.

"Fine! An annoying scrawny _brat_ like you clearly doesn't deserve such awesomeness! You can work on this instead."

I caught the scroll he threw me and unravelled it excitedly.

What would it be? A cool jutsu? Maybe he wanted to teach me the rasengan? Now that I would be totally down to learn!

I read the title.

'Basic jutsu.'

My excitement dissipated almost immediately. I read the first jutsu on the list. Earth style: Head-hunter jutsu.

Wasn't that the jutsu Kakashi used to use a lot? The one where he'd come up from the ground? Or sink into it.

I read down the list more. There were 3 basic jutsu of each nature on the list, ranging from D-rank to B-rank.

I went to complain, but Sasuke and Jiraiya were already deep in conversation. I sighed. I'd just have to learn them quickly and then get him to teach me something useful!

The only one that looked even vaguely interesting was the B-rank lightning style jutsu that basically caused lightning to spring from your palms. I could imagine it would be useful in combination with my chains. I decided to start with that one.

Sasuke ended up searching for Itachi for help. That was how determined he was to pull this off; I could understand why. Having control of the nine-tails would be the ultimate weapon, and not only that, Naruto would be able to release him without having to worry. We would be the ultimate trio!

Itachi, however, seemed to disapprove of this idea of Jiraiya's, stating it could end badly and he'd rather not be a part of it.

This just made Sasuke even _more_ determined, if only to prove his brother wrong.

Naruto let him practice on him; on the third day, he figured out how to use genjutsu to open Naruto's mind to him, being something of a genjutsu prodigy (Shisui would be proud) but he said that there was a chakra blockage, like the Kyuubi was locking him out.

I, on the other hand, was struggling with the jutsu that had been heaped on me. It was easy to forget that jutsu are incredibly difficult to learn, especially with only one arm.

But I grit my teeth because _damn_ if I couldn't learn these I may as well give up on learning any cool jutsu!

So that's how we spent the first week of the month leading up to exams; Naruto struggling to summon toads bigger than a large orange, Sasuke struggling to figure out exactly _how_ to get past the barrier in Naruto's mind, and me struggling to learn these so-called _basic_ jutsu.

I guess I should have seen it coming. I vaguely remembered Naruto being pushed into a giant crevice and being forced to access Kyuubi chakra, but I had disregarded that memory because _surely_ there was no reason to push Naruto into a highly dangerous situation when he knew how to access the Kyuubi's chakra, even if he _did_ tend to lose control easily.

Well, I was technically right. It didn't make me _wrong,_ though.

On day seven after a long, hard day of lots of work and little to no progress, we trudged back to the village behind Jiraiya.

Naruto was complaining as usual, while Sasuke was glaring at the ground in front of him as he walked, as if he could set fire to it, and I had my hands in my pockets and was staring glumly up at the clouds.

And then suddenly Jiraiya stopped and turned, causing the three of us to pause.

"Asahi," Jiraiya began seriously, "do you trust Sasuke with your life?"

Shock radiated among the three of us like a tangible thing.

Naruto looked confused, but he nodded with a surety anyone would be proud of.

"Of course!"

Jiraiya smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"And would you trust in Sora to stop the Kyuubi no matter how many tails?"

"Believe it! Sora is the best!" Naruto basically yelled.

I felt faint, my heart was in my throat. I had a horrible suspicion I knew where this was heading.

"I sure hope you're right."

It wasn't Naruto's forehead protector he tapped.

It was mine.

Naruto seemed to realise something was amiss, felt something in the moment Jiraiya's finger touched my protector for his hand whipped out and grabbed mine.

But it did nothing, for suddenly the both of us shot away like bullets, Naruto clinging to my hand for dear life.

And then, there was nothing beneath us, nothing but a gaping black void.

And there was that surreal moment where we hung in the air, the moment before gravity decided to have its way with us.

And then it took us.

We _screamed._

We were falling, clinging to each other for dear life. And I saw a flicker of movement, a silhouette on the edge of the ravine as we fell deeper.

It hesitated for only a moment.

Sasuke dived after us.

* * *

 **It took me a while to settle on who I wanted Jiraiya to push into the ravine; at first I was like Naruto and Sasuke get pushed, with Sasayaki following, but then I was like** _ **nahhh**_ **maybe Sasayaki gets pushed in, and Naruto and Sasuke dive in after her like heroes. But I settled on Naruto and Sasayaki because I wanted Sasuke to have his moment of glory XD**

 **You could make a case that Sasayaki shouldn't have been the one pushed, but eh I want it to make it a team thing so it's happening.**


	33. Demon's Eyes

_Don't take it personally Minato, Fugaku._

Jiraiya watched the three fall, the darkness encasing them the further they fell.

He wouldn't have put them in this situation had it not been necessary; he understood the reason why Sasuke could not reach the Kyuubi. There was nothing driving him; no _absolute need_ for him to meet the Kyuubi. His strength of will was not enough.

Maybe, if he had more time it would be possible to learn in a safe manner. But time was not something Jiraiya could allow him; with danger on the horizon, in less than a month in fact, there was the very real possibility the village would be attacked.

The last thing the village needed was the Kyuubi on the loose again should the seal destabilise. Naruto learning to release the beast in small amounts was all good and well until he gets pushed over the edge.

He folded his arms as he watched Sasayaki try to embed his chains into the wall, to no avail. Naruto and Sasayaki clung to each other and Sasuke caught up with them within moments after diving after them. They formed a triangle, spinning around each other, holding on for dear life.

Sasuke's eye bled into red.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto found themselves in what appeared to be a sewer. The lighting was poor and the sound of dripping could be heard echoing throughout the tunnels. The ground was covered in inch-deep water, and yet strangely it didn't feel as if his feet were getting wet.

Sasuke swallowed.

He had never come this far with his Sharingan before.

Without exchanging words, he and Naruto began to walk. Just… walk, as if drawn by some invisible force.

And then they came to a room that led to a massive gate, with a single seal holding the prison-like doors together.

Behind it was none other than a demon, it's eyes, each one as big as his house, red and slitted. The rest of its features were hidden by shadow, but they didn't need to see to know who – or rather, _what_ it was.

It simply stared at them for a long time.

Naruto had never been in this strange… _place_ before. A metaphorical enclosure that represented the seal of his demon, brought about by a combination of his chakra, mind and the seal.

He had learned to use the Kyuubi's chakra, as much of it as he could manage without being overwhelmed by hatred, but this… this was his answer to gaining full control. If he could get the Fox to willingly give him his chakra…

"Kyuubi," Sasuke stepped forward, braking Naruto from his reverie. "Lend us your strength, or I will take it from you."

His voice was serious, his eyes glowing with the Sharingan.

There was silence, and then the Kyuubi spoke.

"I remember those eyes," its voice deep, booming, riddled with distaste. "For such a puny human to threaten me… I know you know not how to use them. I would rather let you die and have to reform rather than help one of _your_ kind."

If the Kyuubi would not willingly lend his strength, they would die. They both knew it. And it was with cool certainty that Sasuke said his next words;

"Then that is your mistake," and he closed his eyes.

And when he opened them, there were three tomoe in each instead of one, spinning lazily.

Naruto knew Sasuke was a genius, a prodigy who did not get the recognition he deserved. No one paid him any mind because in their eyes he was nothing in the shadow of his brother. Their eyes would pass over him, seeing him only as Itachi's brother, the Uchiha's _backup_ heir, or perhaps the fiend that is friends with the two demon children.

It was times like these that Naruto was reminded just how _blind_ they were _._

And he heard the Kyuubi scream and writhe, watched the landscape shatter around him and couldn't help but think;

 _Fools._

* * *

The only evidence of the event that left the three of us almost dead were two claw mark scars that ran directly from my left cheek down to the top of my collar bone.

I didn't know how I was going to explain _them_ to the other teams. I could tell the truth; but that seemed far too complicated.

At least we survived. No thanks to Jiraiya.

In the anime, Naruto had continued with his apprenticeship after the event like nothing had happened after his near-death experience.

But Sasuke and I, understandably in my opinion, found it very hard to forgive. The man had pushed Naruto and I off a _cliff. We could have died._

Watching it happen on a show is all well and good; when it happens in real life it's another story. I could not really bring myself to trust him after that, neither could Sasuke, but we _really_ needed the training for the coming chunin exams, so we sucked up our spite and kept on going.

Naruto being Naruto was more enthusiastic than ever.

Sasuke and I couldn't help but ask exactly _why_ he was so damn _forgiving._

"He could have killed us!" I'd implored.

Naruto had shrugged nonchalantly, grinning.

"But we didn't! You're too stuck up on the details. He believed in us, and his belief paid off. I mean, look what happened; Sasuke knows how to communicate with the Kyuubi now!"

 _The details he calls them,_ I'd grumbled to myself.

In any case, the month up to the exams felt far too short. Although I managed to master most of the basic jutsu, and Naruto finally decided to let some of the Kyuubi's chakra leak into his system so he could summon Gamabunta, and Sasuke experimented with his Sharingan, I still felt like we were unprepared.

In any case, there wasn't much I could do about it apart from the plan I had come up with. Since I knew that Orochimaru would possibly be posing as Kazekage, I would place a clone in the area and have it disguise itself on the rooftop that the Kage's would be sitting on. Then, when Orochimaru's minions erect that purple barrier trapping Orochimaru and Hiruzen in, my clone would be there too.

I remembered a point in the Orochimaru v Hiruzen fight where Orochimaru would be vulnerable; the moment Hiruzen trapped him and tried to seal away his soul with the help of the Shinigami.

That is when I would have my clone strike. It really was a great plan, but I wasn't sure how to tackle the _other_ problem, that being the invasion itself. I would have to leave that up to the Leaf nin; they had fought Sound and Sand off in cannon, I didn't see why that should change now.

* * *

 **Short chapter, but I wanted to start the final exams next chapter.**

 **Also I have decided to leave the after effects of what happened in the ravine up to interpretation. Sorry not sorry XD Also as for whether Sasuke should be able to have the power to control the Kyuubi? Well, I made the decision he probably could if it was only for a few moments by using a well-placed genjutsu that needed only be powered up so it could affect** **that wonderful mass of chakra that is Kurama.**

 **And let's be honest; stranger things have happened. Sasuke is a prodigy and prodigies seem to be able to pull of anything so long as they are in a traumatising enough situation.**


	34. Enter the Arena

Today was the big day.

The first round of the tournament was being hosted and I had never felt so anxious in my _life._

Naruto and I woke up and quietly got ready for the day. The morning felt far too serene, especially knowing what was coming.

I even decided to take Puggy with me, getting Naruto to paint a quick storage seal on my calf. I might not be able to hold Puggy, but the knowledge that Puggy was on me at any time was nice.

Of course, Puggy wasn't the only thing. Naruto, Sasuke and I had spent hours the night before getting Naruto to paint storage seals all over us – hidden under our clothing, of course. I had a myriad of weapons at my disposal at any time, as did the other two.

We headed over to the arena, together. Jiraiya had wished us luck the day before and said he would be watching.

Naruto yawned as we trundled slowly towards the arena, Sasuke doing one last check of his equipment at his side.

"Oi! You guys! Yea, you the nerds!" It was Ino, streaking towards us with Sakura at her heels.

It suddenly hit me that Sakura didn't _know._ Not that I wanted to tell her, considering how we had last parted.

The two stopped in front of us, panting.

"We wanted to wish you luck," Ino grinned brilliantly, even though her face was flushed from running. Sakura was bent over behind her, gasping for air. "We're going to be cheering you on from the crowds."

"Except… Sora…" Sakura panted, finally straightening herself up. "For all I care, you can go and die in a ditch!" she yelled, thrusting her finger in my face.

Naruto giggled at the dramatic scene she made. My lips curled down.

"Hmph! Well Sora-kun, don't worry about her," Ino said, shoving her aside and coming to stand in front of me. "I have a good luck present for you."

I blinked in surprise, but broke into a smile, wondering what she-

She leaned forward, and my body stilled with that sort of confusion you get when you know you aren't in _danger_ but are taken off-guard.

Her eyes closed and her lips brushed mine. My brain failed to process what was going on, and when I finally did, she was running away cackling, Sakura sending a hopeful glance at Sasuke.

His look said it all, and she was off.

"You did that to spite me, Pig!" she screeched as she disappeared behind a corner after Ino.

For a moment the three of us stood in gaping silence, and then my brain caught up and despite myself a blush spread across my face.

Ino had _kissed me._ She was a- her lips had- my first kiss and-

Naruto fell to the ground, rolling about with laughter.

"The look on your face!" he gasped out between laughs, and even Sasuke was smirking.

I am a _girl._ Ino kissed me, a _girl._

But then again, she didn't know that did she? No one knew I was a girl, save a few. I didn't know _what_ to feel. So, I decided to just ignore it for now.

I stormed ahead, leaving the hysterical Naruto behind me.

Still, I felt tension leave my body as the other two caught up, Naruto still giggling like an idiot.

I think we… needed that.

* * *

We arrived at the arena, in the common area for the contestants. We were separated from the audience, set aside in a room beneath the stands that lead straight onto the arena floor. The wall facing the arena was made of reinforced glass so we could watch the action on the arena.

There was a grim sort of silence as we walked in, other contestants lingering with their teammates and sensei, talking in quiet undertones.

Well, it was tense and quiet until Anko spotted us, and came careening towards us.

"The brats are here!" she yelled, gaining a few looks. The other genin recognised her from the first exam and winced.

Akio came over as well, at a more sedate pace but still with a cheery grin.

"We are not brats!" Naruto stated determinedly. "We are masters of ourselves! Conquerors of worlds! Destr-"

"Oi shut up, your starting to sound like Jiraiya," Anko interrupted, poking her tongue out as if disgusted.

"Yea well _you're_ crazy so you can't talk!" Naruto retaliated.

"Now now," Akio moved his hands in a placating manner. "The exams are starting. Look," he pointed outside to where a proctor had landed in the middle of the arena.

"Thank you all for coming today. First off, I would like to formerly welcome the Hokage and also the Kazekage, who has travelled far to…"

I stopped listening as I instead focussed on the Kazekage, trying to tell just _who_ was impersonating him.

If anybody was, there were no tells. I was also far from where he and the Hokage sat, so I couldn't exactly tell anyway. Not that I would be able to in any case.

The door to the candidate room opened as the introductory speech was made, and all the present genin glanced over to see Yoroi and his sensei enter.

There was a possibility that this was the actual Yoroi, and that Orochimaru had been in a henge. There was also the chance that this was a third party taking the place of Yoroi so that Orochimaru could be Kazekage. Or it could still be Orochimaru. I didn't know if Anko had found the actual body of Yoroi with his face ripped off.

My mind swirled with the possibilities. Anko drew us in closer with a grimace when she noticed him. Naruto, Sasuke and I all stared, as did Shikamaru.

In fact, Shikamaru stepped forward just as he was about to pass him and Asuma.

"I want to wish you well in our fight," Shikamaru drawled, the picture of cool aloofness.

The three of us gaped, and for a terrified moment I imagined Shikamaru being murdered then and there.

Yoroi stopped, but it was impossible to see his expression. Shikamaru held out a hand in the gesture of the seal of confrontation, all the while I could feel my heart in my throat and Naruto was spluttering beside me.

The seal of confrontation was a Konohagakure handshake that was usually used in the academy or general sparring. It basically means 'I will face you in battle', and after the fight the two combatants make the seal of reconciliation, which basically acknowledges that the two are still comrades.

Yoroi glanced at it, in one fluid motion he locked fingers with Shikamaru, completing the seal.

I waited for bones to crack or blood to fly, but…

"As I do you," and then he let go and he walked past Shikamaru who looked thoughtful.

When Yoroi joined his sensei in a corner of the room without making a fuss, I let out a sigh of relief and the three of us turned back to the arena floor.

The introductory went on for about five minutes before the candidates were called and the crowd roared with approval as we were ushered from the candidate room.

"Hurry up squirts! Now's your time to shine! Just in case you fail," Anko beamed, shoving us out before we could retort.

We walked towards the middle of the arena in a cluster, Shikamaru making his way to our side.

"What was that?" Naruto hissed as soon as he approached. "You made the seal of confrontation with the _enemy!_ "

Shikamaru shrugged of his frustration with ease.

"It was a way to tell if he was a Leaf-nin. There was a chance he was an enemy in disguise, and now we know that it is either Yoroi this time, or that Orochimaru traitor still. Unless we have more spies in our ranks," he muttered. "It's highly unlikely it is not one of them. And if it is Yoroi, he is a traitor since he hasn't spoken up about being impersonated. In any case…" his eyes sharpened. "I'm going to give it my all."

And then we reached the middle and the roar of the crowd drowned out any responses we might have had.

After our names had been announced and the crowd had their fill of us, the proctor announced the first match.

"Shikamaru Nara and Yoroi Akado of the Leaf, please remain in the arena. The rest of you, return to the candidate's room."

Sasuke placed his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder as we passed, speaking for all of us.

"Give him hell."

And Shikamaru sent us a crooked smile that was somehow resigned, grave and amused at the same time.

And then we were back in the candidate room with the other sensei and genin, and we watched as Yoroi and Shikamaru faced each other.

 _Nothing will happen, right? If it's Orochimaru, he can't blow his cover anyway._

The proctor stood between the two of them and swiped his hand down.

"Begin!"

The fight never even started.

* * *

 **There are so many avenues for how I want this fic to progress! Still I'm gonna have to choose one... such a hard choice.**

 **Question:**

 **What has been your favourite scene so far?**


	35. Limits

Shikamaru lunged forward, clearly intending to start the fight, but he stopped just as suddenly when he was barely a metre away.

Yoroi hadn't moved, and yet for some reason Shikamaru was suddenly retreating, bounding away with a look on his face that was just short of pure fear.

And then Yoroi deftly removed his face accessories, and the crowd fell silent.

Because it wasn't only his face accessories. He ripped off his face too.

Before anyone could react, Orochimaru bit his thumb, swiped it down his arm where his tattoo lay, and slammed his hands to the ground with a grin, serpentine eyes locked with the Hokage.

All hell broke loose.

People were suddenly running about screaming. Manda, Orochimaru's biggest summons, had appeared in the arena and took up almost the whole of it. His massive, serpentine body began to thrash, his tail coming down on the stands and killing hundreds with deft swipes of his tail.

Meanwhile, the room us genin candidates and our sensei were in suddenly filled with gas, and the doors locked, impenetrable.

All I could think was;

 _So much for assuming nothing would happen this match._

* * *

In Orochimaru's old house, one Mizuki stood beside a summoning scroll.

With a quick sequence of hand seals, he placed his hand over the contract.

Several snakes, almost as big as Manda, appeared around the house he stood and quickly moved out, tearing down houses in their wake. They began to break down the great wall surrounding Konoha.

(And Mizuki, foolish Mizuki, well, he dropped dead of course. Such a large drain on his chakra was too much for a chunin of his level. Not that his master had deigned to inform him of that beforehand.)

* * *

In the red-light district, a piercing whistle could be heard. In fact, the first whistle, if anyone cared to investigate, came from an old brothel called the Mischievous Maidens that had been closed for years.

The sound was repeated seconds later in another location, further away, and then at another, until six of the piercing noises had been made.

At six different locations in the red-light district, six children ripped seals off six different entryways, opening secret passages that few in the village knew of.

And silently an army of ghostly silent ninja moved from the confines of the entryway, each one dressed in black cloaks and plain white masks.

They killed everything in their wake.

* * *

The Gang, having regrouped in their usual meeting location, after watching masses of bodies swarm the village and begin their slaughter, waited with varying levels of apprehension.

Takeshi was particularly horrified; his body trembled, his eyes brimming with tears too stubborn to fall.

(What he had done? What had _they_ done?)

Kiyoshi moved fast, knowing their time was limited before their hiding spot was found, drew out the card a jester man had given him long ago.

Then, he closed his eyes and channelled chakra into it.

None of them knew what to expect. But it certainly wasn't the massive flash of light that occurred, and the sounds of war to disappear entirely.

And when their eyes finally readjusted, they were no longer in their meeting spot, but somewhere else entirely.

* * *

In the Hokage box, the Hokage moved fast, a staff suddenly appearing in his arms and coming to rest threateningly against the Kazekage's throat. ANBU surrounded him also, but were held back by the Kazekage's own guards.

"You are not fit to lead, Hiruzen."

The Hokage would know that voice anywhere. He watched with a sort of resigned horror (because in the scheme of things, this was not really a surprise, was it?) as the 'Kazekage' removed his hat and face mask.

 _Danzo._

* * *

To say Shikaku Nara was less than pleased was an understatement. He knew, _knew_ an invasion of this calibre was a possibility, yet it was so farfetched that he honestly wanted to laugh.

Three nations. Suna, Oto, and half of Konoha itself were attacking the village. This wasn't just a little pastime activity of Orochimaru's to ruffle Konoha's feathers. No, this scale of invasion had years of planning behind it, and Shikaku had the sneaking suspicion that Orochimaru wasn't the instigator.

(No, that title most certainly went to Danzo. He always knew the man was devious, hell, the Hokage did too but to betray the present Hokage? That was unexpected.)

It was mindless slaughter. Danzo clearly wished to take no ninja prisoners, except perhaps the young genin that may still be susceptible to brainwashing. Root made up an entire quarter of the ninja in the village, and with the addition of the Sand and Oto nin that were entering the village through the smashed barriers of Konoha's first line of defence, they would probably triple the population of loyal Konoha nin.

He knew, in his heart, this would not end well.

* * *

It was Anko that managed to get us out of the room we had been locked in, breaking the reinforced windows with a wind jutsu that made a noise high pitched enough to shatter it.

"TAKE COVER!" She roared as us genin rushed out. It was lucky we were _all_ trying to escape the gas, otherwise no doubt we would have broken out fighting.

Genin are meant to be secondary forces, to be deployed only once chunin and jounin numbers were threatened. Hence we were supposed to escape to the shelters.

Of course, with a massive snake in the way escape would be a difficult thing.

I glanced up to see that a purple barrier of the Sound Four had been erected on the top of one of the roofs. It was Danzo and Hiruzen who were fighting it out this time. It was Danzo that had been in disguise!

I could barely believe it, but I had bigger things to worry about. I had my clone that was ready to strike Danzo as soon as he showed a moment of weakness.

I watched as the snake thrashed. Naruto, Sasuke and I raced towards Shikamaru, who was trapped against the arena wall, too close to the flailing tail of the snake to escape. We could see Ino and Chouji jumping the barrier also to get to him.

Thankfully Shikaku suddenly arrived, and he pulled the three into a shunshin, just escaping a massive scaly appendage smashing the three to dust.

"Naruto! Summon the big toad!" Sasuke yelled, as we were forced to dodge the shrapnel as Manda smashed a portion of the arena wall.

Naruto nodded vigorously, but his thumbs and slammed them onto the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" he screamed, and I felt a massive spike of chakra, not all of it human, and suddenly there was a massive toad that fell from the sky. Gamabunta landed on Manda with such force the pipe fell from his mouth and he let out a grunt of confusion.

It forced Orochimaru to leap off lest he be crushed.

It happened to be that he was heading straight for Neji, TenTen and Lee. To their credit, they didn't hesitate for a second to launch into action. TenTen flung an array of kunai at him as he fell which looked oddly like they were going to miss. This, however, was not the case as Lee suddenly appeared above Orochimaru and brought his leg down on his back, and the sudden acceleration of speed sent him straight into the kunai – and Neji, who was awaiting him with open palms.

It was quite the display of teamwork; unfortunately for them, it was a substitute. They were saved, however, as Gai suddenly appeared and managed to propel the real Orochimaru away with a sequence of taijutsu. Anko joined him and the two faced off.

"Go protect the civilians!" Gai told his team as he stood side by side with Anko, facing off against the S-ranked criminal. "We can handle this until backup arrives."

"But Gai-sensei-" Lee tried.

"GO!" Gai roared, his tone brooking no argument. "This is no place for genin!"

Team Gai hesitated but nodded and made their way off the arena floor.

Naturally, things weren't going to go well. Orochimaru struck just as Gai was forced to face Baki when the man came at him. Anko was forced to jump between them, putting herself in harm's way.

Naruto, Sasuke and I were not going to stand idle.

I leapt forwards with a cry. Being the fastest of us, it made the most sense, and within a second my CC chains were flung out, damning the consequences if anyone cared to recognise my techniques. I released a log from the end of the chain that would land me directly in front of Orochimaru, however…

Someone beat me to it. My log disappeared and someone decked out in ANBU uniform appeared in my place.

But I knew that form; knew that deceptively frail stature, knew that low ponytail of black hair.

I wasn't the only one.

"ITACHI!" Sasuke screamed

And then, sensing a fight that might be worth his while, Orochimaru grinned. The two clashed in a brilliant display of taijutsu.

It was about then that we noticed the other problem. It was hard to miss with the overbearing aura and all. I turned my head and watched as Gaara roared manically and his whole body began to radiate chakra that was _not human._

"Kankuro! Get back!" Temari yelled, just in time for sand to burst forth from the ground and shroud Gaara. And he was… he was _growing._

And then he was leaping out of the arena, towards the civilians in the stands, and I knew what we had to do.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" I yelled, dashing after the swirling mass of sand. The two understood immediately, and the three of us raced towards him. Baki, Temari and Kankuro tried to stop us, but Akio and Anko jumped in and prevented them.

* * *

My eyes were narrowed in determination. I had to stop the one-tails; Gaara was already lost to the madness.

The one-tails stamped down on infrastructure and people alike, destroying anything that came close. There were no jounin nearby, they were all engaged in other parts of the village.

But we weren't alone; as we chased the Ichibi deeper into the village, team 8 caught up with us.

"We have to stop that thing!" Ino screamed hysterically as the Ichibi _roared_ , causing trees to uproot and buildings to collapse.

"You guys need to leave! We'll handle this!" I yelled over the roaring winds the Ichibi created with its movements alone.

The truth was, I didn't _know_ if we could handle this alone. I had never restrained a fully unleashed tailed beast before, but I'd be damned if I didn't try. Team 8, however, would likely only get themselves caught in the cross-fire.

"We're here to help!" Chouji responded, his face determined. We needed to act fast before many more innocents died from the Ichibi, and I wasn't the only one who realised it. "You guys will need it!"

Shikamaru stepped to my side and put a hand on my shoulder. He looked me in the eyes, as if searching for something. Or perhaps wanting me to _see_ something.

"This is what you're meant for," he said coolly. He glanced at Naruto and Sasuke, who were watching him intently. "Your whole team, in fact. But we're trained in combat too. We'll distract him, you take him down."

Sasuke, Naruto and I exchanged glances. But really, there wasn't any choice. We had to act now.

Sasuke nodded, and nothing more needed to be said. Team 8 took off, flawlessly falling into a formation as they attacked the Ichibi.

The time had come to test my limits.

* * *

 **A/N: Might be rewriting some of the later chapters of this fic cos they're sloppy. Still considering though.**


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